


Rocky Road to Brightmoon

by PortableRunestone



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Most of the main cast will eventually appear in this, Other, Practice Piece, Vent Piece, eventually some catradora somewhere in there, please critique the fuck out of this im trying to improve, sorry in advance, will be terrible, will take some chapters to get to though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-01-22 18:40:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 42,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21306725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PortableRunestone/pseuds/PortableRunestone
Summary: US Marine Valeria "Val" Ordoñez finds herself on the wrong side of a teleportation experiment during WWIII - in Etheria. She's surprised by many of the things she finds in this new fantasy-like dream world, but one of the things she's not surprised by is the fact that Etheria's also at war - and she's got a long road to the front lines. She'll have to go through hell and high water to get to Brightmoon in the hopes of proving her worth to the Rebellion, fighting for freedom, and maybe making more friends than enemies along the way.Oh and finding a way back to Earth. That too.
Comments: 17
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

It was a quiet day in Minnius’s village of Erdamis, tucked away in a cozy corner of the Whispering Woods, a couple hundred miles away from the frontline between the new Rebellion and the evil Horde. Minnius, the village elder was enjoying his cup of tea at lunch as he watched some of the younger kids chase each other around the fountain. He turned to Griselda, the village’s smith, mason, and carpenter.

The big woman was well respected for all the work she had put into the village over the years, and with her hard work and Minnius’s guidance the village had grown prosperous in the wooded foothills of the southern slopes a hundred or so miles south of Brightmoon, where the Whispering Woods gave way to giant mountain faces gradually sloping upwards, carved with long lines as if hewn by a giant’s tools. At the top an extremely large, dark colored, ancient rock jutted out over the cliff face in such a way that it looked like an anvil, and so the mountain’s name had been Giant’s Forge, or The Anvil for as long as anyone could remember.

“Deep in thought again, Minny?” Griselda asked.

“Just letting my mind wander, Grizzy. I was looking at the Anvil.”

“I could tell.”

“I don’t know how you do it, cutting stone from up there and bringing it down here for the houses. I could never.”

“With these arms,” she said, flexing overly-serious for a moment before they both burst into a fit of giggles, and she ran a finger over one of her horns.

“We’re no better than the children, are we?” Minnius, quipped, sipping more tea.

“We’re lucky. Not everyone is so fortunate to be as carefree as us.”

The silence grew for a few minutes. Their minds, try as they might, turned towards the war. Towards the new rebellion, towards the rumors that the young princess had found a horde defector who’s identity had been revealed to be She-Ra!

_Who would have thought that not only were the legends true, but that She-Ra was a horde soldier?_

Minnius was about to comment on that thought to Griselda when the fountain exploded, and with such a force that the blast sent Minnius and Griselda flying backwards out of their chairs.

“The Horde! The Horde is here! Minny!”  
Griselda cried.

\----

“I’m alright! Get as many of the villagers and children as you can and run!” He yelled as Griselda helped him up and they started for the village schoolhouse. That was when they realized there were no horde soldiers, no tanks and war machines, no war cries or guns firing.

They looked around.

Nothing. They turned their attention to the fountain, where people were beginning to gather around after ducking for cover or peeking out of their houses. Griselda muscled her way to the front of the crowd, the dust of the blast still hanging in the air.

“Is everyone okay? What happened?” She asked, Minnius following behind in her wake, checking each person he passed for injury or severe distress. All he saw was confusion and concern.

“What happened, Grizzy?”

“Griselda?” Minnius asked, trying to look around her when she stopped at the front. A villager let him in and what he saw surprised him.

There, laying under the ruined remains of the fountain in the mud, was a strange man.

“Who is that?” Somebody asked.

“I don’t know, but he just destroyed my fountain.” Griselda said with a growl.

“We don’t know that for certain Griselda,” Minnius said. “He wasn’t there before the explosion.”

“Did he come from the bang, mommy?” Asked a small child with teeny tiny horns. The mom looked at Griselda and Minnius who looked at each other and then back at her.

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Minnius? A word in private?” Griselda asked.

“Get him out from under there, and somebody get Doctor Heartsigil to the Council Hut. Then you and I will talk in private.”

A few minutes later, Griselda and some villagers had pulled the man from under the rubble and carried him to the council hut while Minnius cleared off a table.

“He seems mostly alright other than these burns... I need to get some burn salve on those; he’s wearing some sort of protective armor... but it doesn’t look like Horde tech. In fact it doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before.” Doctor Niera Heartsigil said. She nervously scratched the back of her head, tussling shoulder length, curly, black locks.

The doctor had been a medic in the Brightmoon Rebellion years ago, and she was the best around. Her wisdom and skill had earned her a place on the council among Minnius, Griselda and a few of the others. If anyone here would know anything about Horde tech, it would be her.

She opened her medical pack, a back pack with nearly everything she’d need for a house call or a trail rescue out in the woods.

“I won’t know if there’s anything else wrong with him until we get that armor off, so start stripping him while I get prepped.” She said to Griselda, who was none too happy about seeing a naked man.

“Can I leave his pants on?” She asked, nonplussed.

“You can leave his underpants on. Everything else comes off.” Niera said matter of factly, as though it was nothing to her.

_Probably isn't anything to her, she does this kinda thing all the time. If she can do it, you can too, Griselda_ she thought to herself.

She began by fiddling with a weird clip... buckle... _thing_ on the strap around his chin, taking the helmet off. It was both heavier and lighter than she’d expected, somehow, and the hard shell seemed to be covered in green and brown cloth. Then she set about figuring out the rest of the buckles and straps of his chest plate and the rest of his gear.

He had been wearing a backpack which, after figuring out the helmet buckle, was easy with its big buckle connecting the hip straps. The pack was a lot heavier than what she’d imagined after picking up the helmet, and she set it down in the corner with a loud thunk. He had a large, black metal rifle of some sort strapped from around his neck, and she set it behind the pack, where one of the lesser... qualified villagers or council members wouldn’t be as likely to accidentally set it off. She knew from her late night talks with Niera that rifles were nasty business.

By the time she had got the weird, heavy armor vest off the man, the Doctor was ready, so she stepped back to let her do the rest with her quick hands.

Niera Heartsigil almost had the shirt all the way unbuttoned before noticing the weird bulge underneath the man's strange, cropped undershirt. Something was wrong.

“Griselda, trauma shears.”

“Trauma shears,” she replied as she handed a set of safety scissors to the Doctor, who took them and began cutting without ever looking away from her patient with her keen brown eyes.

She made the cuts down the length of the sleeves and laid the cloth all the way open so she could see what was wrong... and then it dawned on her.

She slowed down a bit, looking over every visible part of his skin. Everything that wasn’t burnt a little or bruised a bit was fine, and even those all looked like they would heal, as long as he got new salve and bandages on his burns everyday and lots of rest and food and water. She began feeling for soft, puffy spots and redness, swelling, sharp bumps, anything under the surface that could indicate broken bones.

After her search of the upper torso was complete, and satisfied the man had no breaks, or any injuries about the head or neck, save for a bruised jaw and a split lip, she cleared her throat and met the anticipating eyes of the council members in the room.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen of the council,” Doctor Heartsigil said with a grin, “I am happy to announce our newest visitor is a perfectly healthy baby girl!”

\----

“It was a funny joke! They’re just jerks.” Niera complained.

“I mean... sure, whatever, but you don’t even know if they're actually a woman or not. Also they're not a baby. Or perfectly healthy, either. Look at all those bandages you had to put on them.” Griselda said, not all that committed to arguing the doctor when they both knew she had just been trying to lighten the mood during a tense situation.

Doctor Heartsigil grumbled. “Ugh... well, thanks for kicking em out of here before they kicked me out, Miss No Sense Of Humor.”

“I have a sense of humor. When I’m not afraid of random humans _exploding_ into existence with guns and armor and destroying my fountain, _which_ by the way,” she said, punctuating her sentence with a finger in the air to emphasize her point, “has been standing there at the center of the town square since the fall of the Old Rebellion.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Okay, well then you also know why I’m pissed at _this one_ for blowing up my fountain!”

“Yes! Calm down, please.”

“Okay. Sorry. I’m just... not happy.”

“Understatement of the week, but it’s alright, I would be too. That took a lot of time to build and it’s gonna take more to rebuild,” Niera said, turning to look at the unconscious person sleeping on the table. “But really, I’m just curious how the hell they did that. Like who are they? Why’d they come here? Y’know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I wanna know too. And I wanna make sure they’re not gonna try to fuck with us when they wake up.” Griselda said, a keen edge in her voice.

“Don’t worry about that.” Doctor Heartsigil said, matter of factly.

“I keep my scalpels sharp, and my bone saws sharper.”

——

Val woke up slowly.

Her first thought was, “Holy fuck, this sucks.”

Her second thought was wondering where she was.

Her third thought didn’t make it to the surface, as she slid back under.

Over time she couldn't keep track of, she flickered dimly in and out of consciousness, just enough for thoughts to come and go, until suddenly a pounding, angry, fearful thought started trying to kick down the door into her conscious mind.

The thought was a single word.

“Fight!”

The thought was a few words.

“Get the fuck up!”

The thought was the face of a man in a drab green uniform and a steel helmet charging her with a bayonet mid-scream.

The thought was no longer a thought but a shot of adrenaline surging up from within like the explosive force of a Yellowstone geyser, and in that rush all of her memories and emotions and missions and training rushed up all the way to the surface at once and she exploded up in a scrambling leap, with a scream and a tug at her wrists as she tried to reach for her M4-

She froze.

She was still dreaming?

She was not dreaming.

That was a woman in front of her with big ass horns on her head and goat legs, like a satyr from Greek mythology. The fuck was this, a live-action Percy Jackson movie?

It better not be.

Whatever the fuck was going on, it was not... anything she had ever thought she might encounter in her lifetime.

The satyr-woman looked startled, scared, and then, almost angry.

That was when Val noticed the black woman with the scalpel in her hand.

_so they captured me. And now they’re gonna torture me. Still not even close to how I pictured something like this would go though,_

Or so she thought.

But they made no move. Not for a long while. Long enough for Val’s breathing to slow. She realized the woman looked kinda like a doctor, and didn’t seem to have any malice in her eyes. Again, just fear, if anything, but also a cool resolve, a restraint. The scalpel was only for Val if she attacked them.

_Okay. This I can deal with._

“Who are you, where am I, and how did I get here? Where’s my rifle? Where’s my unit?”  
Suddenly she had so many questions. She realized she was cold, almost naked, in just her sports bra and her pants. She noticed the blanket and the cot she was standing on, and the rope tied around her wrists and ankles, with several feet of leash on each, tied to a stake nailed in the adobe-ish wall above her head.

_I need to practice some restraint and discipline myself. One question at a time._

And that was when the doctor introduced herself.

“I’m Niera, Doctor Niera Heartsigil. This is Griselda. Who are you?” The doctor asked.

“Lance Corporal Valeria Ordoñez, First Division, US Marine Corps.” She said.

“I didn’t understand all of that, but... you’re a soldier. I know that just by looking at you, “ said the Doctor, “I was a soldier once too. Medic in the Brightmoon Rebellion. The old one.”

“Where am I?” Val asked.

“Erdamis. Small town near the Southern Slopes.” The woman said, unhelpfully to Val.

“...Okay... and where are those...?”

“Ever heard of Giant’s Anvil?” Griselda asked.

“No?”

The big satyr woman and the doctor exchanged a look.

“...Okay. How about Plumeria?” The doctor asked.

“Nope.”

“The Kingdom of Dryl?”

“No.”

“Brightmoon?”

“No.”

“The Horde.”

“No.”

Niera looked at Griselda with surprise.

Griselda turned to Val and asked, “Have you ever heard of Etheria?”

“No, I haven’t heard of any of these weird-ass places y’all are talking about.”

They shared another look.

“Lemme ask you a question,” Val spoke up, asking, “are those horns real?”

Suffice it to say the councilwomen shared a _look._

“We have a lot more explaining to do than I thought we would.”


	2. Chapter 2

Val laid on the cot under the blanket.

It had been a long talk. Several hours, with a few breaks in between for food and water. The skinnier, older guy, whose name she learned was Minnius, had joined them after the doctor went and put her kit away and came back. Together the three council members had asked questions and shared answers with her. Griselda eventually warmed up to her a little bit, losing some of the tension in her broad shoulders, and Minnius had been mostly kind, as well as being the one to bring food and tea every now and then.

Val had to admit, that even though the food was just some bread and jelly, the tea was surprisingly good. She'd remembered after finishing it off in two big gulps to thank him, and only after he'd collected the cups and dishes from everyone and walked back home to clean them and put them away that she'd thought to compliment him.

_Oops._

Val paid close attention to every word about Etheria and the war, the village of Erdamis, their way of life, and what little they knew of the magic of the Princesses and their connection to the runestones, which Dr. Niera had been the village expert on as the only one who ever got close enough to know any facts about them. Val soaked up every little detail she could. Or she tried at least. Sometimes the burns would flare up as the wounds absorbed the salve, or she'd twist the wrong way when adjusting her position, and a new pain made its presence known.

_Suck it up, Marine. Pain is weakness retreating._

And they'd asked her many questions. She answered honestly. Griselda had almost fought her much earlier in the day when she didn't believe her about her horns and legs and had tried to pull them off of Griselda's head. Val still wondered how the hell... but when she had pulled, when Griselda's back was turned, they hadn't budged in the slightest. Instead Griselda's head had yanked back with the horns and Griselda shouted in surprise, smacking her with a wide flying backhand and a follow-up donkey kick... from her goat-like legs. That hoof felt pretty real, and the reality of being in a strange world where some people had horns and goat legs hit her harder than any of Griselda's blows.

Val told them of the world she came from. The war she'd been fighting. That she wasn't _sorry_, per se, about pulling Griselda's horns but that the reason she did it was because there was nobody like her from where she came from, and that she thought they were trying to pull the wool over her eyes. Minnius had been more understanding, Niera had simply cocked her head at the information, and Griselda had muttered something under her breathe that Val had trouble hearing. The war had shot her hearing already, and her ears were still ringing from the trip to Etheria.

Speaking of.

One of the first things they'd asked was how she came out of the smoke cloud, why she'd destroyed the fountain. Why she was in Etheria.

Val had told them of how her unit had discovered a secret bunker deep in enemy territory in the middle of a long invasion. The closer to the actual event, the sketchier her memory got of the events leading up to the moment, but she did remember her and some men, people she'd been fighting alongside since deployment, stacking up outside doorways, backs turned as the sappers blew it open, and then rushing in, muzzles tracking over the corners quickly. How the fighting had gone from hallway to hallway to door to door and shooting through walls.

She remembered Sergeant Kershaw, firing his grenade launcher down the hallway in an unorthodox effort to destroy a fifty cal machine gun some enemy troops had set up at the corner of the intersection ahead. She remembered seeing the flash, feeling the punch in the chest from the concussive shock wave as the gun and the screaming men manning it disappeared in an instant. She remembered the next instant when the ceiling came crashing down and the floor beneath gave way.

It was at these kinds of points in her retelling that she'd notice them looking lost, or they'd interrupt to ask what something was, and it reminded her of how different their worlds must be. They'd let her outside to see the village, and she'd seen the huts and cabins, nice huts and cabins, but huts and cabins nonetheless, and people looking at her with suspicion and anger.

_Reasonable enough,_ she thought. She wouldn't be happy either if someone came in and blew up her town square too.

There were spots in her memory she couldn't recall, didn't have the information to tell them. Like trying to remember what happened after a night of hard drinking. Just... black periods of indeterminate amounts of time. Her final memory before waking up in a new world was screaming and shouting, banging on a steel door in a cold room with no windows that suddenly got very hot and very bright. She remembered a falling sensation.

And that was it. No context. She didn't even remember if her squad was alive by the time she'd made it to the cold room. She couldn't remember how she'd gotten in there, only that it hadn't been her decision.

After that it had gotten quiet. It had been getting late and the sun was setting behind the mysterious navies and maroons of the Whispering Woods. The council members had agreed that was enough for one day and that one of them would be back with dinner later.

Val had been untied, and left in the council meeting hut by herself, Griselda volunteering to take a long first watch after dinner. As far as she knew this was her best time to escape, if that's what she wanted to do. She knew from the map on the wall that Brightmoon was about two to three weeks hard marching, depending on weather, terrain, and unknown obstacles. She figured if anyone could get her home, it'd be the Rebellion. Dr. Heartsigil had said Brightmoon was a big city-state and was powerful enough to stand up to the Horde. Griselda had made sure to let Val know that "she looked Horde enough." Enough for what? Val didn't ask, but she had a feeling she already knew.

Though.... if the Horde looked anything like her, gear and tech-wise at least, they might actually know about the technology that brought her here. But according to these villagers, especially Niera, the Horde was not a force to be trifled with, and certainly not interested in helping anybody. If anything they said was true, and it seemed to be from what she could tell, the Horde was just as likely to kill her as it was to capture her, brainwash her with their machines, and set her out on the field to fight for them.

As for the Rebellion and their "magic"... Val was _incredibly_ skeptical. She'd tried to hide it but she could tell that _they_ could tell she didn't really believe a word of Dr. Heartsigil's spiel about magic. She figured she'd just see for herself when she got there, like she'd seen for herself about Griselda's horns. That gave her a chuckle.

She got up and looked around the room a little bit. She was beginning to feel more energetic, and had been able to set her mind straight throughout the day's conversations, once it had stopped feeling like an interrogation and more like an after-action report or debriefing.

Tomorrow she would talk to Griselda... and ask her if she could talk to _Minnius_ about getting her gear back and heading out for Brightmoon. Seemed to her like she had a better shot with him than the buff goat lady. At worst, she'd have to break out in the night, get her shit, and run. She doubted they'd follow her anyway, since she'd only destroyed their fountain, but not actually hurt anybody, and had done her best to keep a level head during the talks. Griselda probably hated her the most and would like to see her rot away in an actual jail cell, but she guessed the reason they had kept her in the meeting room instead was because they didn't have a jail. And if she was gone, that meant Griselda didn't have to build one. Another point to make to Minnius tomorrow to convince him to let her go the easy way.

Val looked out the window of the meeting room at the night sky.

_"What the FUCK!?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2. Any inaccuracies you see in the story are entirely the character's faults because they are ignorant. It's not my fAULT I HAVE A BAD MEMORY SHUT UP.
> 
> Oh, and thanks for reading, I guess. Not like I'm grateful or anything.


	3. Chapter 3

Val was surprised to see that there were no stars, to say the least. How far away from the rest of the universe was Etheria? How far away was she from home?

How far would she have to go to find her way?

She'd find out in the morning. For now, it was time to go to sleep.

She laid down on the cot, pulled the blanket over herself, and let the peaceful breathing of the breeze through the branches and leaves take her into the darkness.

She dreamt of a walk in the woods.

When she woke, there was only the faintest memory of some... long lost home, cradled in a strange forest, in another place, maybe another time. A smile came from somewhere she couldn't remember.


	4. Chapter 4

"Val."

"Sarge?"

"Wake up."

"I am up."

"No, you're not. You're dreaming."

"I'm wide awake."

"Your eyes are closed."

"But I can see you."

"Because you're dreaming."

"But you're not a dream."

"No, and neither is this."

Cold water splashed on Val's face and gave her a heart a jumpstart.

"Thanks for the wake up call, Griselda," Griselda said sarcastically.

"You mean thank you for pouring freezing cold water on my head?" Val groaned as she wiped her face on the blanket and sat up.

"Well I tried to wake you up the normal way but apparently _normal_ doesn't work for you," the mason said. "Come on, eat your breakfast. You and I got work to do." she said, setting the plate and the half full glass of water on the meeting table.

Val perked up a little at "breakfast". She sat down at the table and began to hesitantly poke at the food, unsure what she was about to bite into. Jelly toast was familiar. This wasn't.

"You know for a soldier, you sure don't eat like one." Griselda said, a hint of humor in her voice as she watched the Marine pick at the food. "It's not poisoned, if that's whats holding you up."

Val gave Griselda the finger and started tucking in, which wasn't hard to do. It was surprisingly good.

"Whaght izh thish?" Val asked with a full mouth.

"Bug guts." Griselda said with a wicked grin, watching Val's face for a grossed out reaction.

"Best goddamn bug guts I've ever had," she said after swallowing, and then went back in for another forkful.

"You're no fun," Griselda sighed. "Finish up quick so we can get going."

"Oh, I'm no fun, huh? I could just, y'know, throw up on you, if you want. That'd be fun to watch."

"Oh, _go ahead,_ see how far that gets you. You even think about looking sick in my direction and I'll plug your mouth with my fist."

"You wanna put your fist in me? Why didn't you just say so? C'mere!" Val said, jumping up like she was gonna go after Griselda, who started screaming, "AAAUGH WHATS WRONG WITH YOU!?" as she turned and sprinted out the door.

"Hah. That'll teach you to try and out-gross a crayon-muncher." Val muttered, sitting back down to finish off the rest of her... bug guts, as far as she knew.

She shrugged and polished the plate off quick, and headed outside.

Griselda was absentmindedly rubbing the tip of one of her horns as she leaned up against the porch railing.

"You ready?" she asked.

Val nodded.

"Make sure to drop that off at Minny's place when we go by." Griselda said, gesturing to the plate and glass in Val's hands.

"Okay. So, what are we doing today?" she asked as the walked down the steps and into the main thoroughfare of the village.

"Well, you see that fountain?" Griselda said, pointing to the muddy ruins on the ground in the middle as they walked by.

"Yup, the fountain I blew up."

"Yeah, well before it became known as the fountain _you_ blew up, it was known as the fountain _I_ built."

"So we're fixing it, huh?"

"Well, unless you'd rather leave your mess for the village to clean up after you, of course." Griselda said mockingly.

"I'm not leaving here until it's fixed, am I?" Val asked, already certain of the answer.

"Hell no!" Griselda said loudly.

Val threw her hands up in mock-surrender.

"So, just letting you know, I don't know the first thing about building fountains or carving stone." Val said. "How am I supposed to help?"

"You're strong aren't you?" Griselda asked. "You're gonna help me carry down stones from the Giant's Forge."

"By hand?" Val asked. "That's gonna take fuckin' forever."

"No, I've got a cart, but you'll need to load it and unload it by hand," Griselda said, and then gestured to a nice little cabin on the right, "and don't forget to give Minny his dishes back. My shop's at the end of the road. See you there in a few minutes."

Val watched Griselda go for a second. Then she headed up the wooden boards of the steps up to Minny's cabin, and knocked on the door.

When it opened, Minnius appeared behind in the blue robe and sandals he always seemed to wear. He smiled and asked, "How was breakfast? Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah, it was good," Val said. She grinned a little bit at the thought of Griselda's bug guts joke. "It wasn't really bug guts, huh?"

_"Bug guts!?"_ Minny cried aloud, his eyes going wide. He put a hand on his hip and glanced off to his right as though to look through the walls and the woods to glare at Griselda over his half-moon glasses. "What on Etheria did that big grouchy woman tell you about my cooking?"

"Don't worry, we were just fuckin' around."

Now Minnius turned his unimpressed gaze towards her. "I might not know exactly what that word means, but I know what you mean when you say it, so don't say it around the villagers. Or the kids!" he said, before dropping his faux-frown and turning to go put his dishes in the sink. "I'm assuming Grizzy's gonna show you the ropes of bringing stone down from the Anvil?"

"Yup."

"Good. With the two of you working on it, it'll be done in no time. In the meanwhile, be thinking about what you want for yourself, for after." Minny said, walking back in to the cozy living room.

"Oh, I already know. I'll be heading for Brightmoon. I was actually gonna ask you for my gear back."

"Are you... planning on leaving as soon as I give it back to you?"

"No. I fucked up your fountain, so I need to help fix it up. It's only fair. But I'm not sticking around once I'm done." Val said.

"Then I guess we'll have to make as much use of you while we can, hm?" he said with a smirk.

"As long as you follow OSHA guidelines."

"...huh? What's OSHA?"

"I don't know if you're extremely lucky or extremely _un_lucky. Anyway, I should get going. Griselda's gonna be all, We need to go, quick, hurry up, do this, do that, which I just can't wait for."

"Eh, blame it on me. She knows I love to talk." He said.

"Sure."

"Oh and come back by here later when you're done for the day and I'll give you that giant backpack of yours. The rifle stays with me till you leave."

"Fair enough. See you later."

"Bye-bye."

Val got back down to the road again. "Who the hell says bye-bye?"

Griselda's house was secluded away from the rest of the cabins. The home itself was built with stone and timber, and had a very... "hunter's cabin" feel minus all the animal corpses. Val walked in through the open front door and immediately began appreciating Griselda's taste a bit more. Val wasn't much of an interior designer, unless you called putting holes in drywall "interior design", but everything just kinda felt... nice, right, like it was all in its place. She guessed an interior designer would say something like _"everything comes together to make the room feel-"_

"You're here. Knock next time." Griselda said brusquely, brushing past her shoulder from a room behind her.

"You left the front door wide open, I thought-"

"Still, knock. And follow me." Griselda said, walking towards a door on the other side of the room. "Shop's this way."

"Fine." Val huffed, following.

She walked through a small little dining room with a table and two chairs and a kitchen with a big potbelly stove. She walked out the back door onto a porch with a nice view of a trail leading through a meadow to a creek that disappeared up into the woods. To the side of the porch was a large shed, almost half the size of the house, with an awning and all sorts of equipment everywhere. The cart Griselda had mentioned earlier sat near a stable with a horse.

"Let's get the horse harnessed up and the cart loaded and get going." Griselda said, pulling a worn, but well-cared-for harness off a rack on the wall just inside the shed.

"Alright, I'll load up the cart. What do you want me to put in it?"

"Couple of sledges, and the toolbag under the workbench." she said, picking a wool blanket off the shelf.

"Anything else?" Val asked, hefting the hammers and the bag into the cart.

"..." Griselda stopped for a second to think. "Yes, actually. We're going up into the mountains, so we're gonna need layers."

"Yeah, about that," Val said, gesturing to her fatigues, "I don't have anything warmer than this except for a shitty torn up poncho in my bag, which is back at Minnius's."

"Alright, stay here. Be back in a sec." Griselda groaned.

Griselda walked back to the cabin. Val watched her disappear inside, then put the equipment in the back of the cart, and waited. And waited. And waited.

"What the hell is taking her so long?" Val muttered to herself as she began heading to cabin. "I'm not doing this stupid fuckin' hurry-up-and-wait bullshit if i dont gotta."

Val approached the cabin door, knocked.

Silence. She knocked again. More silence.

_What if she had a heart attack or tripped and smashed her fucking skull open? Wouldn't be the first time you saw that, Val._

Witha sigh, she pushed in through the door and headed towards what she assumed was Griselda's room. She opened the door, at this point any care for pleasantries already gone out the window.  
"Griselda, you alright?" she asked loudly, stopping short just as she got in the room. "Gris... you okay?"

Griselda was sitting on her bed, clutching a jacket to her chest, silently sobbing. She stopped, pulled in a big breath, and said, "Knock next time," a hint of anger tinging her voice.

"I did, outside. I thought something might've happened to you."

They were silent for a moment.

"Here." Griselda said, drawing one arm over her eyes to wipe away tears, and handed the jacket to Val.

Val took it slowly, unsure what else to do.

"You sure?" she asked.

"It's the only other jacket I've got. Should fit you..." she said.

Val looked at it, then put it on, hesitantly. It fit nicely, and she could tell it would be nice and warm up in the mountains. She turned to take it off but Griselda's voice caught her.

"Lemme see."

Val turned back around, facing Griselda. She saw the drying trails of tears that ran down the bigger woman's face, as her eyes threatened to spill more. As Val searched for some explanation for it all, she noticed a painting on the wall behind Griselda. It was the big stonemason lovingly kissing a smaller woman, both wearing white gowns.

"This was hers." Val said, with the firmness of certainty and the softness of understanding.

"Yeah."

"How about I leave this here. I'm hard on my equipment, and if I'm out there working all day, I might tear it or something on accident. I've been out in colder weather than what's up there, with less than what I got on now. I'll be fine. Plus, I'm a Marine, and if there's one thing we never stop doing it's sweating and this thing'll smell worse than the horse stable out back." Val said with a soft smile as she took off the jacket.

"You sure?" Griselda asked, almost surprised.

"Ooh rah."

Griselda's brows furled a bit at the unfamiliar catch all, but she quickly understood.

"Ooh rah." she said, back, almost chuckling.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i guess i should do chapter summaries huh. this ones about chipping away at stone.

The cart ride up the mountain was mostly uneventful. Val watched as the sun stretched above the trees slowly, felt the air get brisker as they went up switchback after switchback. The blue trees fell away early, the treeline giving away to hard rock. Speaking of, what she wouldn't give for some rock n roll or heavy metal right about then to help pass the time once she started work. Or hell, even pass the cart ride. It had been quiet between the two women since the moment back at Griselda's cabin. Val figured her wife had to be dead. Those looked like tears from old grief. She was really glad she wasn't wearing that jacket. She would have felt even more awkward than she already did. A part of her wanted to talk to Griselda, but the rest of her shunned that. If the woman wanted quiet, then Val would keep it quiet.

She turned her attention to the view out over the forest and saw a beautiful sea of navies and turquoises and violets. She realized after a few minutes she was looking for familiar greens and browns, and felt a wave of intense awareness of being an alien in an equally alien land. It was still tripping her up. The whole... thing. Whatever it was that had happened.

Trying to remember what had happened that brought her here was like... trying to look through a one way mirror. If you pressed your face to the reflection close enough, if you looked into your own eyes hard enough... you might just be able to see what's inside. But try as she might, she could only make out vague feelings of what happened, like seeing shadows in the dark but never quite making out what it was that moved.

She thought about what she could remember. Her unit had been assigned to some task in the middle of the war, what some were calling World War Three because of the sheer scale and number of countries involved. Something to do with nuclear devices. There'd already been nukes dropped, but countries were still hesitant to use them after seeing just what happened after the fallout. She remembered her first time fighting in a radstorm. One of several new "climate events" that had begun occurring after the nukes began falling. The sky would get this burnt color, as the sandstorm or the thunderclouds carried all the radioactive ash and debris with them, held high upon the hot air currents and coming down like a hellish rain of fire when it decided to dump on you. Acid rain had nothing on this shit. You could literally feel the prickly burning on your skin and in your bones if you weren't wearing your Chemical/Biological/Radiological/Nuclear suit. Hah. CBRN suits. Those fuckers. Hot as all hell, made you sweat like a bitch, you could never aim just right through those fucking visors, and forget about running. It felt like you were wearing your pants around your ankles, and not just physically. They'd been ambushed a few times while wearing them by less funded, less encumbered enemy troops. Sure, they took more rads, but she and her guys took more bullets because they never saw them first. It got to the point where they'd tear the suits on purpose so they didn't have to wear them. Every new shipment of suits got "damaged" before anybody could wear them and it pissed Command off to no end but those fuckers didn't know shit about being in the shit, so fuck 'em.

_What were a few years taken off your life if you didn't get to see them anyway because you got capped by a bullet you never had a chance to see coming?_

A bump in the trail jolted Val out of her thoughts and she felt her lungs burning from holding in a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She gasped and took a deep breath of fresh, clean air. One of the many things she was getting used to about Etheria.

"I thought you were tougher than that, _Marine_", Griselda said with a sneer, then quickly flashing a smile towards her to show it was just a joke.

"Oh yeah, I was really pissing myself over a speedbump," Val said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Speedbump?" Griselda asked.

"Huh? Oh," Val said, realizing that with the lack of cars on Etheria, they probably didn't have speedbumps, "yeah, uh, they're a thing where I'm a from. Like, a bump that crosses the whole road so people don't go too fast in some areas, or they end up hitting their heads on the roof of their cars."

"Cars?" Griselda asked.

Val sighed. She had a lot more explaining to do than she thought.

By the time they reached the top of the Giant's Forge, the two had had a long conversation about the differences between their worlds. Val was surprised, as she was sure Griselda was too. Neither of them had thought when they first met that they'd have a decent conversation and even laugh with each other. Some things were just universal, like how men couldn't pronounce the word hygiene no matter what dimension they were in, and how beer tasted like piss but was still the cheapest drunk you could get anywhere.

Val learned about Griselda's stonemasonry, and how if she made it to Brightmoon, (_"If?_ The fuck you mean _if?"_ Val had asked incredulously. Griselda had just looked at her up and down and snorted.) she might still see a statue she'd built in honor of the queen in one of the squares.

And Griselda had learned that Val would have _no problem_ making it to Brightmoon.

"Oh really? No problem huh? And what will you do if you get ambushed by brigands on the road to Brightmoon?"

"Same thing I did to the last hundred fuckers who tried to ambush me." Val said confidently.

"And what's that?" Griselda laughed.

"Kill 'em." Val said matter-of-factly.

Suddenly there was silence.

Val noticed. She looked at Griselda to gauge, and saw something there on her face. Anger? Disgust? whatever it was, it was a dawning realization.

"What?" Val asked, feeling on edge. "What, you're... you're pissed because I said I'd kill some assholes who wanted to hurt me? Fuck that. You asked what I'd do if I got ambushed, and I told you."

"I am angry. I'm angry because I knew it. And for a second there I let myself think that I was wrong, that Minnius was right to trust you. You came up here to help fix something you broke. You made all the right moves. Hell, you even showed me what I thought was some rough form of respect when you left behind my wife's jacket. But I knew. I knew all along and you've proven me right. I just couldn't tell until now what exactly it was I didn't like about you, what it was I recognized in you."

The silence grew for a moment, but Val cut it short, not letting it grow any more. "Oh yeah, what was that? What did you recognize in me, huh? Someone who won't let the world step on her?"

"Is that what you think it is? You really think you're some noble warrior facing the whole world? No. You're a killer. That's what I saw in your eyes. Not just the... part of them that was missing, but the calculations. The premeditation. The hunter in you. And you don't even realize how much you sound like a Horde soldier when you talk. You would take someone's life so quickly, with so little care. The only thing you value is your own life. That makes you dangerous. The only thing more dangerous is truly believing you're right to do what you've done."

Val was... speechless. Not shocked, not flabbergasted, not really all that surprised, just. Speechless. How could someone like her understand? How could Val make her understand? Why should Val even care enough to try and make her understand?

"I can't. I can't make you understand. That's what I hate about you damn civvies. You just don't fucking get it. Sometimes there's no goddamn fucking _time_ to think. You have to react or you get fucked. It's either you or the person in front of you, and the closest thing either of you will ever come to understanding each other is the, the, the _knowing_ that you both have. That it's the same for them. That if they don't pull the trigger, you will, and that if you don't, they will."

"What if neither of you... pulled the trigger. Hm? Ever thought about not killing the person in front of you?"

"Sure. Just never when there's a person in front of me who sees me as the person in front of them. Like I said. You civvies don't fuckin' get it. It doesn't work like that. If you don't pull the trigger, they will. That's just how it works."

"That's what you killers just don't get. You don't have to pull the trigger."

And there they sat next to each other, digging into no-man's land.

"Fuck it. I'm not explaining myself to you. If some motherfucker comes at me, I'm gonna come at them. And that's that."

"If you choose."

Val sat silent for a sec. Then, "Yeah, I _do_ choose. I choose to live. I choose to not be afraid, I choose to survive, I choose to make it through another day. And if someday, you're face to face with the choice to live or die, I hope you make the right one. Because not only will you maybe understand then, but you'll still be alive after. And that's what this shit's all about, anyway."

Griselda didn't respond. She just looked forward and tightened her grip on the reins.

Eventually they reached the top of the Anvil. The earth had turned to dark stone here. Occasionally a muddy patch of snow lurked in the shadow of a large boulder or dark outcropping. The two hopped down off the cart in silence, and it was at this point that Val began wishing she'd just taken the fucking jacket when she'd had the chance. Shit was cold up here.

"Alright, you don't like me, I don't like you, gimme a hammer and tell me where to start so we can get this shit over with."

"And as soon as it's over with I won't have to see your vile face ever again." Griselda said, the edge in her voice keen.

"Oh ho ho, my vile fucking face huh. Shut up you horny goat bitch and give me the fucking hammer." Val said, slapping away the mental shitstorm that had just exploded in her head over her not-very-well-thought-out insult.

"Call me what you just called me again and _I'll give you_ the hammer," Griselda spat.

Somehow Val couldn't not think of that as some twisted innuendo, even though she knew Griselda had probably never even heard of innuendo before.

"Okay, goat bitch, then give me the fuckin' hammer already!" Val shouted from across the cart, readying herself for the woman to rise to the challenge.

Griselda grabbed the hammer out of the cart and all but threw it at Val, who, to her credit, only moved just enough to adjust her footing and catch it near the hammerhead without getting smacked by it. She made glaring eye contact with Griselda as she slung it over her shoulder, and said, "Now, where do I start?"

Griselda matched the Marine's glare ounce for ounce, pissed as a bull that the killer hadn't at least fumbled it if not getting smashed by it outright. She lifted her own sledge out of the cart as well as a bag of tools without taking her eyes off the foreigner once and then gestured to a large outcropping with the sledge. "Over there. And before you start ruining the stone and my hammer, wait for me to mark the cuts. Anyone can swing that thing but I'm the only one for miles around who actually knows how."

Val waited by the stone. Griselda took a long swig of water from a bladder and looked at her. Turned around, put the bladder back in the cart and walked over.

"You finally ready?" Val said more than asked, and Griselda just put her hammer down and looked at her.

"No. I don't think I am. And the longer I'm not, the longer you have to sit here with me. And you just hate that. You want out."

"I think you want me gone more. Think I really give a shit? Hurry-up-and-wait is all you do in the Corps."

Griselda gave a disgusted look and said, "Yeah, you're right, I do want you gone. Now watch what I do because I'm not explaining it again."

And so, Val watched. Learned. The hours went by, slowly, but surely. They finally got to the point where they'd begun to actually cut into the stone along Griselda's chalk marks, measured carefully and checked twice. Cutting wasn't the right word. Each mark got drilled, like making a perforation in the rock face. That was the hardest part for both of them, and not just physically. Val knew if they had a hammerdrill or a concrete-cutting saw, they could make short work of this. But no, this was _Etheria_ where apparently they'd just invented the horse drawn carriage and were afraid of the magic known as "electricity" because the only ones smart enough to recognize its usefulness were exploitative, genocidal assholes who probably operated slave labor camps as a hobby.

That really wasn't the worst part of it though.

No. The worst part was that because this was Etheria where things were still painstakingly made by hand, she learned that drilling by hand was a team effort. One person to hold the two foot long metal drill bit that kinda looked like a phillips screwdriver with a flat strike face on the back end, and the other person to hit said strike face with a ten pound maul.

Oh and, according to the stonemason, the person holding the drill bit, which felt like it weighed between ten and fifteen pounds itself, had to hold it near both ends. You know, the parts where the hammer hits the bit, and the bit hits the stone.

Val was convinced Griselda was just trying to take her fingers off.

Every now and then, though, they had to switch out. Not nearly as often for Griselda as for Val, but often enough that during one such switch out, Val didn't want to switch out yet. She was tired for sure, but she felt like she was just beginning to get the hang of swinging hammer without nearly taking off Griselda's fingers every time, as much as she wanted to, and wanted to go another few sets of swings before handing it back. Also, holding that bit sucked like a motherfucker. The cold was really starting to set in even though they still had a few hours of daylight left, and every time the hammer struck that bit, it felt like she was landing a twenty foot fall on her hands. The vibration almost made her arms numb, but mostly just hurt, and Griselda was feeling the same thing right about then and...

Well...

"Look, I've got a few swings left in me and then I'll go for a few extra turns on the bit, okay?"

_Clang!_

"No, you're losing power, I can feel it. I'm good now, so just switch with me already."

_Clang!_

"You think I'm losing power? How's _this_ for losing power!?"

_Clang!_

"Hey! You nearly hit me again, and I know it was on purpose this time!" Griselda shouted.

_Clang!_

"Yeah because you're just a little pussy and your arms are sore from holding the drill for once!"

Griselda stood up and pulled the drill bit away just as Val swung again, hard this time, causing her to swing into emptiness and lose her balance. For Griselda, it was a split second action, not even a decision really, more of an afterthought, sticking out her leather boot for Val's combats to trip on.

Val tried to save her balance and let the hammer go flying out to the side to try and catch herself but she was already flying towards the rock headfirst, and when she hit it, she felt something crack. She was on the ground now, not sure if the crack had been the rock breaking or her cheekbone. She was dizzy and saw her vision blacking around the edges. She hyperventilated, seething with anger and holding in a huge breath as she crunched her abs to force as much blood to her head as she could to fight the faint, a little trick she learned as a kid growing up. She glanced over to the right, where she saw Griselda laying on her side clutching her ribs, and only just realizing that when she'd let the hammer fly it had sent straight for the stonemason.

Their eyes met in anger and pain, and they both immediately got up and into fighting stances. Val knew the next thing the big woman would think of would be to grab the hammer laying at her feet, and her eyes flicked down to it.

Griselda did just that, and stepped forward.

Val's blood surged through her head, but her thoughts stood their ground in the rushing red waves. She felt a calm coming to her, she just had to channel it. The survivor wanted to take the path of least resistance to safety; eliminate the threat - you'll only be safe once it stops twitching, it screams. The person only has to speak.

"Hey." Val said gruffly, panting. "Hey." she said again, even more firmly and clearly, making an effort to assert the calmness she felt in her voice. "Look."

"Look at what!?" Griselda shouted, stepping closer.

"Look at you. Look at me. And stop. You said you hated killers? Well, you can't hit someone softly with a sledge. And I want to prove you wrong. I can't say I'm not a killer, but I can say I don't enjoy it. I really, really don't want to have to do what it would take to stop you from hitting me with that, because as much as I really, _really_ dislike you, I don't hate you. You're not a bad person, but you _are_ irritating as _fuck._ And I know I piss you off too. I've fucked up pretty much every step of the way. I'm not gonna say sorry. Some things we're just not gonna agree on. But right now we're both fucked up. I hit you in the ribs with that sledge, you sent me flying into a rock wall face first, and we've been at each others throats all day. I'm fucking tired. Come on. What do you say we just leave the fuckin tools here and go back to the village, and I'll sleep in the meeting hall on the other side of town and we'll be as far apart as we can. Ooh rah?"

By this point, Griselda's hold on the hammer had lowered till it looked like it was pulling her down, and she looked like she'd run out of wind. Val didn't know if her words had actually gotten through to her or if she'd kept Griselda distracted from attacking her long enough for the pain to break through, but either way, they were both feeling the aftershakes of the adrenaline rush now, as the pain burnt hotter, and the wind blew colder.

"Ooh rah." Griselda said, no fight left in her voice as she turned the sledge upside down into a makeshit crutch

As she gingerly hobbled her way over to the cart, she said, "I'm not leaving my tools up here. And I'm not loading them up by myself."

"Fine." Val said. She sighed and began picking up the pieces, used drill bits and some other tools laying on the ground around her. She hauled it over to the cart and dumped it all in, and grabbed the bladder and sucked down a couple gulps as she watched the sun begin to set.

"Come on, we're losing light. We don't wanna be out on the trail after dark." Griselda said, before breaking into a fit of coughing.

"Looks like it hurts." Val said, looking at the pained expression on Griselda's face as she wiped something from her mouth.

"Just. Keep quiet, please."

They rode back down the mountain in silence, and Val learned why the forest was called the Whispering Woods as the wind wove between the branches and rushed past the leaves, swaying the trees in its passing like dancers of a reverent song.

Try as she might to stay awake, she drifted off to sleep to the forest's lullaby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since i posted anything. Just moved recently. Next update? sometime this week, hopefully. I like writing, but I also got work n shit. No promises.


	6. Chapter 6

Griselda readjusted her grip on the reins. The ride down the Anvil’s trails had been quiet, even more-so when the killer fell asleep next to her, slumping forward. Griselda was surprised she didn’t snore. She almost wished she did. At least it might cover up the noise she heard herself beginning to make as she breathed.

Thinking about that... that made her angry. She went to readjust in her seat and immediately winced as she did so, retreating slowly back into position. Her ribs. That stupid woman. Of course she had let the hammer go flying instead of just dropping it on the ground or something. The thought crossed her mind that the killer wouldn’t have had to try to save her balance if Griselda hadn’t tripped her up in the first place, but she swatted that thought down as soon as she realized she was accepting blame for something that absolutely _wasn’t_ her fault. No, that idiotic _Marine_ had swung even after Griselda told her to stop and switch out with her, and then had the nerve to insult her.

Griselda realized she needed to take a step back and just… not think about anything for a while. She didn’t want to be angry. She’d been angry the whole damn day because of this moron and she wasn’t going to let it bother her anymore.

She sighed and felt pain so bad she immediately let out her breath and tried to keep from gasping and coughing as the pain throbbed and burnt, stinging in a place she didn’t know could sting.

She slowly pulled in a breath with all the control she could manage through the pain and felt it fade a little, just enough to take the edge off of it all for a second. She readjusted her grip on the reins again, as they rounded another switchback and the trail got steeper and rockier.

_Oh hells,_ she thought as they hit the rocky bit of the trail just before they reached the first of several stream crossings, where all the rocks were loose and the cart was going to rock back and forth and bounce up and down and…

The jolting bounces made her crumple as whatever was broken inside her chest scraped and jabbed her. She groaned as she held her breath and clutched her side. If she’d had the energy, she’d push that blasted horde-soldier-look-alike out of her cart right then and there and leave her out in the Woods as night fell around them, but she was too busy trying to keep herself in the cart as she fought the pain.

They hit a big rock, as hard as the hammer that hit her, it felt, and Griselda let out a wounded cry, more strangled gust of wind than anything, and Val woke up.

“What the hell was that?” she asked, sitting straight up, then looking over at Griselda. The stonemason saw her looking her up and down as she grimaced with her arm wrapped around her stomach, trying to hold onto her reins and her ribs and not quite getting control of either.

“Here.” Val grumbled, thinking it was just the stonemason bitching about a bruise on her tit or something, “Need someone to kiss it better?” she taunted, holding out her hand for the reins.

“If I...” the stonemason gasped, trying to find the air and the painless second it would take to scalp the Marine for her stupid, callous attitude for a problem _she_ caused for Griselda.

She found nothing except more pain. So she gritted her teeth and took the breath, as the anger burned hotter within her than pain she felt.

“If I was in any less pain right now- agh-” she got out, voice hitching in near agony as she breathed in another shallow breath, “I would push you out of this cart and. And-” she breathed out, doing everything she could to not cough, breathing in again, “And I would leave you out here.” She said, finally.

“So? I’d just walk back to the fucking meeting house. Big fuckin’ deal.”

Griselda started laughing. She could tell from the face she was making that Val was creeped out.

The sound of Griselda’s pained, wheezing chuckle faded and she slowly breathed in another whistling breath, and said, “I thought you were stupid and naive before… now I know you are,” she said, breathing in again, “you think you can last a night out here in the Whispering Woods by yourself? Without knowing what’s out here?”

Griselda shook her head, and had to wait out a second of momentary dizziness, then exhaled a short laugh and tried to keep from regretting it as she breathed in again.

Val looked at her, shook her head, and looked away.

So be it.

They rode in as much silence as Griselda could keep the rest of the way. Val thought she might get another nap in but the wheezing kept her wide awake for some reason she didn’t know or understand. She’d slept plenty fine with other wounded Marines in hospitals and make-shift triage tents before, no problem at all. Maybe it was the painkillers she’d been given way back when? Nah, Sarge snored like a diesel engine and she slept through that like it was her alarm. Whatever.

If Griselda wasn’t just yanking her chain then there was shit to look out for out here in the woods. So she looked out for it. Not wide eyed or anything, but she paid attention to her surroundings and tried to ignore the noise Griselda made every time she breathed.

Eventually they made it back to Griselda’s cabin without having to deal with whatever made her think that leaving Val out here would be a death sentence.

Griselda watched as Val hopped down from the cart and started unloading the gear, plunking down tools and bags in the shed and then finally looking at her, still in the cart.

“Well? You gonna stay out here or what?”

“Shut it, killer.” she said, exhaustion tugging on her voice. “Just give me a second.”

“...Do you need help down?” Val said, extending a hand.

“I don’t need anything.” she said.

“Do you _want_ some help getting down?”

Griselda was silent for a second, then stuck her arm out for support.

Val put her shoulder underneath Griselda’s arm and let her use her as an anchor to balance on.

It hurt like hell, but Griselda got her leg out of the cart and onto the ground, and then eased the rest of her body down, holding onto the killer’s shoulder tight, maybe a little too tight, just to make her regret offering it to her.

Standing was a whole new world of pain. She’d gotten used to slumping just a certain way that let her side rest a little bit, and now standing straight up was like stretching a wound open again just as it was beginning to knit itself closed.

“Put the horse in the stable for me.” Griselda grunted out, starting the long walk back to the cabin.

“Oh, sure thing, _boss_. Of course, lemme just _do everything_ for you. Should I thank you too?”

“Shut. Up.” she gritted out.

Val went to say something and decided not too.

Griselda waited for her to turn and start taking the gear off the horse before going.

By the time she reached the door, the woman had already put the horse away and pulled the cart next to the side of the shed just where it’d been that morning, and there she was. Opening the door for her. Had she really taken that long to walk to the house?

By the time she reached the bed, she was too tired to even bother undressing, so she just laid down on her least uncomfortable side and closed her eyes.

A quiet voice kept her from immediately falling asleep.

“You gonna put on some pajamas or something?”

Griselda groaned, “No.”

“Alright. When do you want me here tomorrow?” came an exasperated reply.

“I don’t want you here tomorrow. First light.” She muttered.

When she didn’t hear footsteps leaving, she lifted her head up on her straining neck and said, “Get out of my house and leave me alone.”

“Yeah, goodnight to you too.” Val said, and with that, she turned and left.

The door shut loudly, but not quite slammed.

“Goodnight,” Griselda whispered, and felt fatigue pulling her down into the darkness of sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year. Tired, partially drunk, please forgive typos n shit . thank
> 
> Edit: Realized I'd somehow mis-written an entire part of this chapter/left out a part of val & griz's arc

Griselda dreamt of a happy moment. Drinks and speeches, laughter and joyous tears. A kiss. The sweetness of cake, the bitterness of liqueur. An easy contentment that sat light in her chest and spread warmth all through out her. A woman small in stature, but bigger than the whole world in heart and mind, spirit and soul.

The friends and family cheering for them as they broke apart and gazed into each others eyes so deep that that was the whole world, _right there,_ within them, and all the sound and noise swept away as she said those words. She could remember them but never hear them.

She started crying. She’d never hear those words from her again. They both knew it. But every now and then they’d see each other again here, in the darkness, in this world beyond worlds that people sometimes visited in their sleep.

And they’d stay there a while. For as long as they could. Hold each other closely.

And then it was time to go. The guests left, trickling away, until it was just the two of them, both overstaying their welcome. Griselda wanted to hold on.

But she knew she had to let go. And so she gave one last kiss, at least till next time, and turned to leave. She got a ways, then looked back a little, over her shoulder.

No.

She did a double take. Turned back again.

The woman had left.

And in her place, the other one. The new one. The killer.

What was she doing here?

She looked… lost. Regretful. She looked this way, that way, like she was about to cross a busy street, and behind her, like she heard something coming. Everywhere she looked, but she didn’t see Griselda.

She wore armor. A lot of it, most of it hidden, under something that made her blend in. And a pack, with everything that was hers, stuffed down inside.

Griselda walked towards her. She didn’t like her, didn’t trust her, and now she’d shown up here, in this place that wasn’t hers to be in, and so she followed her. And the longer she followed her the more she realized that while she didn’t seem to know where she was going, she _was_ following something else. Or… maybe not? Sometimes she moved off in one direction, and then switched paths, heading in another. She looked like she was being pulled, apart almost.

She called out for Griselda.

At first Griselda hesitated. She couldn’t see her but she called for her?

She called her name again.

Griselda backed away.

“Griselda!”

No.

“Griselda!”

“No!”

“Griselda, wake up!”

“No!” Griselda shouted, opening her eyes to daylight streaming through the blinds.

She started coughing, badly. It felt like she had breathed in a lung full of water, and she hacked up a handful of phlegm.

“Shit, Griz, you okay?”

“No, you’re here.”

Val crossed her arms. “Yeah well, you said to be here at first light. Sunrise was hours ago.”

Griselda woke up a little bit more. “Hours ago? What took you so long to get here?”

“I’ve been here. You didn’t wanna wake up, so I was getting ready to return the favor from yesterday and dump a bucket of water on you.” She said, gesturing at the steaming bucket of water and towels sitting next to her on the floor.

“I only poured half a glass on your face. And you’ve been here the whole time, what… watching me sleep?”

“Yeah? I wasn’t sure if you were still alive when I got here, so.”

“You watched me sleep. That’s really disturbing.”

“What’s really disturbing is not seeing you breathe for five minutes, and then realizing I just couldn’t see it because it was so shallow.”

Griselda didn’t really know how to respond to that, so she changed the subject. “Well, we’re wasting time. Let’s get g- oh owww,” she groaned, sitting up slowly and grabbing her side.

“Lemme see.”

“See _what?_” she spat, giving Val a glare.

“Your fuckin’ ribs, genius.”

“No. Screw you. Get out of my room. And why the hell did you bring a bucket full of water in here, other than dumping it on me? And why is it steaming?”

“Well, while I waited for you to wake up, I ransacked your house and saw that you have a tub, but no faucets or showerheads or anything, so I’m assuming you don’t have running water. So I went down to the river, brought back some water and boiled it. Figured I might as well do it for you since you probably can’t do it yourself.”

Griselda blinked, then turned her head and looked at Val for a moment. Val’s face was swollen on her right side, a clean white bandage of some sort over what she remembered was a pretty nasty cut. Her right eye was bruised, and scrapes ran around the outside edge of her brow.

Griselda blinked again and said, “Well if you only brought one bucket, I’m gonna end up doing it all myself anyway because it’s gonna take a lot more than that to fill the tub.”

She went to get up out of bed when Val said, “Tub’s already filled.”

“You filled it?” Griselda asked, sort of taken aback.

“Yeah? It should still be warm at least. And I didn’t fill it up to the brim, so it shouldn’t overflow.”

“...Thank you.” Griselda said hesitantly, slowly rolling her legs out from under the covers and setting her feet on the wooden floorboards. “Gimme a minute to get bathed and dressed and I’ll meet you in the kitchen. I don’t know about you but I’m starving and I’m not going anywhere or doing anything till I’ve eaten.”

“Alright, sounds good.”

Val headed out of her room and closed the door behind her, and Griselda started trying to undress. Her pants came off easy enough, she just needed to hold her breath as she pulled them down. Her coat and her shirt… not so much. The constant throbbing ache sharpened to a hot, piercing knife point in her side that twisted up into her chest. Raising her arms and moving them enough to get them out of the sleeves was a fight, but one she was determined to win.

She was _not_ about to ask Val for any more help. 

She finally stretched her arms enough to get one sleeve off and then the other one was a piece of cake. Now, onto the shirt. It was a bit easier, made of a loose material, and she slipped it off with less of a fight than the jacket. She pulled her panties down, stepped out of them, and walked into the bathroom, to find a steaming hot tub of water. It was right about then she realized how cold it still was. Looked like the temperature was starting to drop, as fall began.

She dipped a toe in, and after that, it didn’t take much longer for her to let herself sink all the rest of the way down into the heat and warmth of the bath. She found she could breathe a little easier after just a few minutes, and the heat seemed to blur the line between her aching ribs and the hot water. The muscles loosened up a bit, and she slid down lower into the tub, letting herself close her eyes for just a moment.

Val sat in the kitchen waiting.

“Why the fuck am I always waiting?” she muttered to herself.

She remembered last night. She’d walked out of Griselda’s cabin, into the cold air of night, and made her way back to town. She saw the soft glow of candlelight in one of Minnius’s windows and decided to stop by and see if she could get some first aid stuff from her backpack.

She knocked on the door, waiting a moment. She heard a shuffling noise behind it, and the turn of the knob and the gentle creak as it opened, the small man appearing before her in the doorframe.

“Ah, you’re back!” Minnius said delighted. His eyes narrowed as they found her face and he grew serious. “What happened, a mountain lion attack?”

“Worse,” she said, flat toned. He frowned even harder, if that was possible, and she said, “Grizzly bear attack.”

“Grizzly bear attack? ...oh.” His scowl eased into a nonplussed look of vague disappointment. “You two got into a fistfight?”

“Not quite. I’m still bleeding though, so I wanted to know if you’d let me get some medical supplies out of my pack.”

“Of course. In fact, I was staying up to make good on my word this morning. You can have your pack back. I imagine you’ve got some clean clothes in there for tomorrow?”

“Nope.” Val said, sort of regretting the decision now, but accepting that there wasn’t a whole lot she could do about that either. 

“Oh. Hm. I’ll see if I can do something about that in the meantime. For now, I’ll get your pack for you. The meeting house is open for you, as always.”

“Thanks.” she said, letting out a small sigh as she waited for him to retrieve her pack from wherever he’d hidden it.

She felt something wet trickling down near her jawline, and she wiped away what she assumed was a sizable trail of blood, wiping it across her shirt and pants. Minnius arrived at the front door again, huffing and puffing with the weight. The pack was almost bigger than he was and she was surprised he could move it at all.

“Thanks Minnius.”

“Oh, stop it with the formality, Minny is fine. Everybody here calls me that.”

“Minnius, I’m… Fine, Minny. Whatever makes you happy. Thanks.” she said, hoisting up the backpack onto her back easily. “See you tomorrow, maybe.”

“Goodnight, Val.”

“Goodnight.”

When she got back in the dark meeting house, she got out one of her flashlights, then decided against that, seeing that there probably weren’t any batteries in Etheria and she needed to save them. So she took the batteries out of the flashlight and put them in the ziploc with the rest of the spare batteries. She thought about using one of her bic lighters, what she used for her cigarettes when she ran out of butane for her zippo. Then she decided on using the zippo and lit the candle in the room. The fuel was going to evaporate eventually anyway. The bic’s would last a lot longer.

With her little candle light, she got out her first aid kit, taking out an alcohol wipe, the tube of triple antibiotic, some sterile adhesive pads, and a roll of gauze. She got her compass out of the brain of the backpack and opened it up, using the signal mirror on the inside of the cover to get a good look at her face.

“Well, there goes my beautiful mug.” she muttered sarcastically, smiling a bit at her stupid joke before wincing at the pain and the poor excuse for a smile she saw in the mirror. “Yikes. Better not do that again.” she groaned, then began looking for dirt in the wound. She didn’t have to look hard. It was crusted in dirt and dust and whatever the hell else had decided to land right in her cut. She went to brush and pick it all out with her fingers after rubbing her hands with the alcohol wipe, and then scrubbed the gash with that after all the visible dirt was out. Then she squeezed the last couple drops of alcohol from the wipe onto the wound and rubbed it in good. At this point, the right side of her face was smeared with blood, and so she took a clean patch of her sleeve and wiped her face with it.

Then she put a couple droplet sized dabs of triple antibiotic on her finger and applied it (read: smeared it all over her cheek), then wiped that off on her sleeve too.

Finally she tore a strip of gauze off the roll, folded it up neatly into a patch that would fit underneath the adhesive bandage, and then she put those two on, rubbing the adhesive hard to get a good seal.

She realized her eye was really beginning to puff up and all the irritation from dealing with the gash on her face was causing it to water, little streams trickling out of the corners.

She wiped those off on her sleeve, too.

She gave the patch job one last look in the mirror of the compass and put everything back where it belonged, then laid down on her cot, and felt the exhaustion take her down into the dark.

Val blinked. Right. She was waiting in Griz’s kitchen. Griz was showering. Well, bathing actually. Didn’t matter.

Well, maybe it did. If Griz did something stupid like drown to death, then Val was going to be in some very hot water herself. Time to check on Griselda.

Val got up and walked into Griselda’s bedroom, noticing all the clothes on the floor, and listened for any noise from the bathroom that might mean Griselda was in trouble.

Nothing.

_That wasn’t necessarily a good thing_ Val thought, _cuz sure, people sometimes didn’t make any noise, but dead people_ never _make noise._

“Griz?” she asked.

No response. Something tensed up inside Val.

“Griz?” she repeated, clearing her throat loudly.

She should have heard her by now. She felt her body setting, getting ready for a sprint, for a fight, for adrenaline.

“Hey, Griselda!” Val barked.

Alright, that was it. Like leaping out of humvee after taking fire on a quiet patrol, Val catapulted forward and reacted to the danger.

She burst through the door and shouted, “Griselda! Are you alright?”

Griselda jolted awake again, for the second time that morning, and groaned as the pain surged again inside. 

“First Ones damn you!” Griselda grunted out, “I was fine until you came bursting in again. What the hell is your problem?”

“I… um. You... I thought you died. Cuz you didn’t answer.” Val said, flatly. “I yelled out for you and no fuckin’ response. What am I supposed to think?”

“She-Ra knows, why would you care at all, killer?” Griselda said. The silence that followed gave her enough of a moment to realize that Val was still standing in her bathroom while she was in her bath. Looking at her. Suddenly Griselda felt the heat of the tub rising up her face and her ears, like a piping hot tea kettle about to burst.

“I don’t know. I guess I just-” Val began before getting cut off by Griselda, who’s voice had rose an octave, “Hey, get out of my damned bathroom and wait outside or something!”

“Thanks for interrupting me, rude-ass motherf-”

“Shut up and get out!” Griselda shouted.

“Fine!” Val shouted back, slamming the door behind her.

“For First One’s sake...” Griselda sighed raggedly, “It’s like she doesn’t know anything about privacy, or being normal.”

Griselda was thoroughly awake now, and the water didn’t seem to be as warm as it was before, so she began washing as quickly as she could, which, given her circumstances, wasn’t that quick, but she finished up a few minutes later and dried off with a towel. Getting back into clothes felt a little easier now that her muscles had loosened up a bit from the heat and she only felt a much duller ache as she finished pulling her coat over her.

Griselda packed a sandwich of salted meat and bread, and almost walked out when, at the door, she saw Val looking out into the forest near the cart.

The brawny stonemason sighed, turned around, and made another sandwich, tucking it in the bag with the first one, and walked outside to find the cart loaded up with all the gear, and Val still leaning against it, still looking out towards the forest.

“Thanks for loading it up.” Griselda said quietly as she went to grab the harness to hook the horse up to the cart.

“Yeah.” Val replied, just as quiet.

Val watched keenly as the mason hooked it up, watching where each leather strap and iron buckle went, and how tight she cinched them together. The stonemason noticed her stare, and did a double take.

“What?” she almost growled, hostility rising in her voice again.

“I’m just watching so I know how to do it next time. That’s the only reason I didn’t saddle it up already.”

“Okay,” Griselda said, accepting that, “Well, here. Let me teach you.”

She spent the next few minutes going over her method, making sure Val understood why each strap went where and what mistakes to avoid.

Then it was time to go. They loaded up, Griselda getting into the cart by herself, waving away the hand Val offered, and they set off up the trail once more. They both kept quiet, uncertain they could carry a conversation without fighting again. Griselda looked straight ahead, looking out into the forest every now and then. Val just looked out off to her right, into the woods, watching trees pass and catching sight of strange animals every now and again just before they darted off into the forest.

They made their way a little slower than before, but probably right about noon, they reached the top of the Anvil, without a problem or a word spoken. Now it was time to work.

“Alright. Let’s get to it. Hammer and drill bit, just like before, but this time...” Griselda trailed off.

“I actually listen to you.” Val finished.

“Yeah. And we try not to smash each other with the hammers.”

They got to the rock face they’d been chipping away at the day before, and Griselda went over some of the marks that had faded over night with more chalk. She got near the last pockmark from where they’d… stopped drilling last night, and that’s when she stopped. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked over her shoulder at Val.

“What?” Val asked.

“Do you smell that?” Griselda asked.

“Smell what?”

“That stench?”

Val groaned. “Didn’t we just agree to not mess with each other?” she said, leveling Griselda with a look that said, _Are you serious right now?_

“No, not you, do you smell that? On the rock? It smells like… No it couldn’t be, not this far south.” Griselda muttered, looking at the rock again. She wiped something off near the bloodstain Val had left on it with her face yesterday, and sniffed it, recoiling almost instantly.

“What is it?” Val asked as she knelt down next to Griselda, curiosity piqued.

“Here, sniff it.” she said, offering out her finger.

“I don’t think I want to but...” Val said, hesitating, then leaning in slowly to smell it. “Uff, that’s strong. What is it, piss?”

“It’s mountain lion marking. But I’ve never found any this far away from the Southern Ridges. I know we have a few around here but they stay far away from the village, very far. They’re not a fan of people, and I’m not a fan of them.”

“What makes you think they’re from the Southern Ridges?” Val asked, thinking back to the map she studied on the wall of the Meeting Hall. Those were at least a good week’s march north of Erdamis, about a third of the way between the village and Brightmoon. No animal would travel that far away from home territory without a seriously good reason.

“I went on a hunting trip a few years back, when an early freeze killed most of our crops down here. I heard there were some mountain lions causing trouble for the towns up in the Southern Ridges because of the population boom… lots of refugees from the war with no place else to go, so they all spread out from the towns into the outskirts and foothills up into the mountains themselves. So I took a couple of our strongest and we went up there, bagged a few lions, turned in the heads for the bounties and brought the rest of the meat home. Anyway, we learned pretty quickly how to track these things. There’s so many of them up there that their markings are much stronger. And they usually like to leave scratches on trees and such.” Griselda said, wiping her hands off on her pants and standing up.

“So you’re sure this is one of them?” Val asked.

“Not a hundred percent, but pretty damn close.” Griselda sighed.

“Are you worried about it attacking the village?”

“Not quite yet, but… I am worried about it pushing the other mountain lions in the area towards the village. The Southern Ridge lions are bigger, meaner, more aggressive, and when they move in everything else moves out. Which means the animals we usually hunt will either get eaten or move too.”

“You wanna go after it?”

“Not yet. We’ll wait and see if it’s just passing through. But if I start seeing signs that it’s here to stay, then yeah. We’ll have to get rid of it. For now, let’s just put our backs into this,” she said, gesturing to the rock with her chin, “and get done what we can.”

Val nodded in agreement, and they began.

The work went slow, even slower than before. Immediately Val could tell Griselda’s rib was giving her hell. A part of her almost wanted to admire her for not whining or complaining about it all, but another part of her just wanted her to give it a rest and let her do the swinging so she didn’t hurt herself any worse than she already was.

They switched out a few minutes later. Griselda was breathing heavily, and the wheezing was beginning again. Val made sure to make every swing count, so she could go for longer. But after she did about the same number of swings Griselda had taken, the stonemason had signaled to switch out again. Val pushed down the urge to fight her on it, and slowly gave the hammer back, taking the drill bit and positioning it back in place.

Val started counting the swings.

One. Two. Three. Four.

She counted to the fortieth swing, and Griselda set the hammer down, handle up in the air. They switched.

_If we’re doing forty swings a turn, then maybe if I swing slower, I can give her a longer rest between._ Val thought.

They switched out again a few minutes later and Val tried it. At first it seemed to work but a few turns later and Griselda had noticed the change in pace.

“You think I can't tell that you're swinging slower? Keep up, or I'll just do it myself.”

Val sighed, and set the hammer down for a second. “I’m trying to help you out here. I know you think you’re fine, and that you’re gonna tough it out, but if you keep this up, you’re gonna hurt yourself really badly. Like, permanent damage type shit. And that’s if it doesn’t kill you.”

“Do I have to remind you who threw the damned hammer at me?” Griselda huffed out, glaring up at her from her kneeling position with the bit.

It took a lot for Val to bite back her words. She grimaced, squeezed her eyes tight shut as hard as she could and rubbed them till she saw stars when she opened them.

“Yeah, I know that was on me. I’m not gonna do the eye for an eye thing Griselda. I’m- goddammit I’m trying to help! I am listening to you, I'm switching out every time you want, just,” Val breathed in, and then let it out, saying, “Fine. Have it your way. You wanna completely fuck up your ribs? I don’t give a shit, that’s on you.”

Griselda stayed quiet for a moment, then said, “Pick up the hammer and keep going.?”  
Val picked the hammer up quick and started again.

Val hated this. She didn’t like the big woman, with her horns and her legs and her stupid stubborn fucking face and her, her, her… _everything!_ If she’d just listen to Val for once, they might actually be able to get this done without the woman killing herself over a fountain. Not that she looked like she was about to die, but, still. Val didn’t like having to worry about her.

_Hell, I don’t know why I_ do _worry about her. I hate her. She hates me. This sucks. I could totally see us getting along if only I hadn’t fucked it all up. Her fountain, her ribs, hell. I made her go back and get her dead wife’s jacket. I made her cry. I kept barging in on her. I-_

Val’s thoughts were cut short by Griselda’s gruff voice yelling, “I said, stop!”

Val stopped halfway through her backswing. She’d stopped counting somewhere in the middle of her pity-party and had zoned out so hard Griselda had to shout to bring her back to earth. (Etheria?)

“What in the name of She-Ra’s wrong with you?” Griselda bellowed. “First you treat me like a child, now you’re not even blinking, just swinging away like some brain washed horde drone?”

Val took a deep breath in. “Here.” she said, handing the hammer to Griselda.

Griselda stared at her for a moment, shook her head, and they switched out again.

They took a water break some time later and it occurred to Val in the middle of a sip that for all of Griselda’s anti-war, anti-killing-things gusto, she seemed pretty nonchalant about the whole… mountain lion situation.

“So, what’s up with that?” Val asked, tilting her head to look Griselda in the eyes. The sun caught her face in the late afternoon light, not quite golden yet. The shadows of her eyes under her hair and her horns grew darker as she looked down, then looked back up at Val.

“What’s up with what?” Griselda asked.

“What I just asked you.”

Griselda blinked, then frowned. “You didn’t- you didn’t ask anything before that.” She looked at Val with concern.

“Right,” Val muttered, realizing her mistake. “What I meant to ask was, you’re okay with killing mountain lions, where they live, because some new people showed up and pushed them out of their territory, but you’re not okay with killing someone who’s going to kill you?”

Griselda was quiet. She went to speak, opened her mouth, paused, shut it. She looked at Val again. “We killed creatures that were killing people, and if we hadn’t, not only would people have kept dying in the Southern Ridges, but we wouldn’t have made it through the winter. I.. we all did what we had to do, and none of us liked it.”

“So you _do_ understand!” Val said, almost shouted. She went to ask something else before she got cut off by the big stonemason.

“Understand? You? No, you don’t understand me and I refuse to let myself stoop so low as to try to understand you.”

“Oh goddammit. Are you kidding me? You just said that you did what was necessary, that it wasn’t some, some sport or, something. You did it to survive.”

“War is not the way of survival. The horde soldiers do not fight to survive, they fight to conquer. Doctor Heartsigil – she fought to survive, back in the day. You’re not like her. And you’re nothing like me.”

“You’re comparing me to the horde? You really think I signed up for the Marines to go out and conquer people?”

“Even if you didn’t sign up to conquer, you still signed up. You still wanted it.”

It was Val’s turn to be quiet for a moment. She couldn’t say she didn’t want it. That she hadn’t seen the dress blues and the battle fatigues and the eagle, globe, and anchor, and wanted that more than anything else. But there was so much more behind it, it _wasn’t just that,_ that wasn’t all there was to it.

But she didn’t owe this stubborn ass woman an explanation. And if she wanted to make up her own mind about Val and not even give her a chance, then she sure as hell wasn’t going to waste any more time on it.

“Sure. I wanted it.” Val said, a hint of a deeper meaning behind the overt nonchalance she said it with.

“And I want to get back to work.” Griselda said, chugging the last few drops of her water and tossing the bladder back in the cart.

They went back to the sledge and the rock and they began chiseling away again. Griselda had been sounding rough before the water break, but now Val was noticing a rhythmic gurgle sound rising up between Griselda’s breaths. She cringed at it as the woman went. Swing after swing, turn after turn.

She started coughing again. Val was surprised it took her that long to start, but so far it had only been three or four hours at most. But with how late they’d started, the sun was already beginning to turn the clouds and the sky golden. 

After a few turns of listening to Griselda hacking her lungs out, Val finally said, “You’re definitely getting worse. Come on, we’ve gotten enough done for today.”

Griselda made a point of looking at her, and then continuing to keep on swinging. That’s when something audibly _popped_ with a sickening wetness that Val was too damn familiar with.

Griselda’s face went red and she stopped for a second, glared at Val, and then swung again.

“Okay, stop. You just broke something, I know that sound.” Val said, trying and failing to decide whether or not to continue holding the drill bit in place. She really didn’t want a repeat of yesterday.

_Maybe she’ll stop after the next couple swings, she’s at like, thirty-seven or thirty-eight..._ Val thought.

Griselda hefted up the hammer again, a clicking noise coming from her chest.

_Clang!_

“Griselda...”

_Clang!_

“Griselda.”

“What.”

_Clang!_

“Griselda, you need to stop!”

“No!”

_Clang!_

“Griselda, if you don’t stop, I’m gonna-”

“Just. One. More.”

_Clang!_

And with the last hit, Griselda collapsed on the ground, dropping the hammer next to her. She was gasping for air at this point, clutching herself, coughing and hacking, and that’s when Val dropped the bit: when she saw pink foam dripping from Griselda’s lips.

“Shit, Griz, I told you to stop.” Val said, voice thick with consternation and starting to brim with urgency.

“Shut.. shut up...” Griselda barely got out between coughs.

“Goddammit. Come on, we gotta get you to the doctor, ASAP.” Val said, kneeling down next to her, trying to get a shoulder under her armpit.

“Wh… wha-” Gris choked out, pulling in a ragged breath and wheezing it out.

“Hup you go,” Val said, grunting under the exertion of lifting the brawny woman onto her shoulder. She tried to resist but Val was able to keep her fatigued arms from doing anything serious other than reopening the split on her cheek.

“Fucking ouch, Griz, I’m trying to help you and you catch me right in the goddamn fuckin'...” Val trailed off as she tried to keep the mason from stumbling over the toolbags as she struggled, Val herself stumbling and tripping and barely keeping them both upright on the way to the cart, as her cheek bled profusely again, mingling among the drops of Griselda’s blood on the ground. Val tried her best to load Griselda up into the passenger seat, where she lay slouched halfway onto it, then went to go grab the harness before Val realized she needed to get the horse first.

That’s when she heard a startled neigh from over near the other side of the mountain top, a few hundred feet away, and she snapped her head in the direction of the sound, watching the horse rear up on its hind legs, hoofing at the air and stamping its powerful hind legs, before coming down and kicking out with them. The horse jerked sideways and then began…

_...Galloping,_ blindly, right towards her. Val had a split second to either try to calm the horse down, or move the fuck out of the way. She knew she wasn’t going to stop a thousand pounds of muscle and adrenaline, so she dove out of the way and scrambled up on the cart as Griselda’s horse raced past them, towards the path down the mountain, and disappeared over the ridge.

“The fuck was that!?” Val cried.

She looked at where the horse had gone, a dust trail rising in the air, and she looked back where it came from, bewildered. She did a double take, eyes narrowing in focus and instinctively reaching for a sidearm that wasn’t there when she saw a flash of bristling fur disappear behind the edge of the other side of the peak.

“Oh, shit. _Shit!_ Griz, we got company and our best shot out of here just disappeared out the back door!”

Val looked down at the woman slumped onto the seat, barely breathing.

“Griz?” Val asked, not liking the look of things as she crawled over the seat back next to her, and tried to pull Griselda all the way onto the seat. She had pink foamy shit all over her mouth and chin, dripping down her neck and trailing all the way down her shirt. “Griz, come on, get up in here.” she said, grunting, pulling the woman up. Griselda’s hanging head jerked up and she grunted, getting a foot up underneath her and getting up into the back of the cart roughly.

“Where… wheresh the…” the stonemason tried to ask before gagging and coughing on the blood-foam in the back of her throat, hacking it up and spitting it out. “Where’s the damn horse?” she asked.

“The horse ran off before I could get it harnessed. I think your mountain lion spooked the shit out of it.”

“Mountain lion?” Griselda asked, eyes widening a little as she really started realizing their predicament. “Where is it?”

The seconds of silence made Griselda look over, and follow Val’s heated stare off to the other side of the mountain top, where a head had appeared, hunched low on a set of powerful shoulders, and behind that, where a tail flicked up into sight, twitching with anticipation.

“Oh shit...” Griselda said breathlessly, as she felt a wave of dizziness start welling up inside her head like a tornado, spinning faster and faster, as her vision blurred in the center and blacked around the edges. She crumpled face first into a toolbag with one last heaving cough, spraying pink and red foamy shit on the floor of the cart.

Val barely noticed the stonemason pass out behind her, her focus on the four golden eyes gleaming in the shadow of the rock face as it slowly padded closer, low to the ground, close to the wall. The sun was about to set behind the rock face, and Val kept unblinking eye contact with the alien-like lion, until it suddenly leapt up onto a low over hang and disappeared out of sight behind the top edge of the rockface.

Val didn’t want to take her eyes off that ledge, dodging between the points the lion might suddenly appear from, but she had to get something to fight with, to protect Griz with. It had been getting closer and closer but didn’t seem so brazen as to just waltz up to her and take a chunk out, slinking up into the rocks for a second at least. She tore her eyes away from the rock face and glanced back into the cart quickly, then took a glance back at the rock face, then another hesitant glance back into the cart to confirm what she thought she’d saw.

Looking back at the rock face again, she set her jaw and rolled her shoulder.

“Yep. Nothing but that one fucking bag of tools,” she muttered, squinting into the deep shadow beneath the ledge, looking into the piercing glare of the sun with a narrow glare of her own as she tried to see where the hell the rest of the tools were, where the sledges were…

_There!_ she thought, eyes locking onto the drill bits and the sledges and another bag of tools. She hesitated for a second, thinking about what might happen if she left Griselda, out in the open, about what would happen if the mountain lion got between her and the stonemason, about what would happen if she waited too long… even if she never saw the mountain lion again, if she didn’t get Griz off this mountain and to the doctor, the woman was dead. And she couldn’t just head down the mountain with her over her shoulders and nothing to fight off the lion with because _the likelihood of never seeing that four-eyed motherfucker again was pretty goddamn slim with how much blood they'd both spilt already,_ Val thought.

No, she had to get something to protect them with, and then she could firefighter-carry Griselda down. 

The fleeting thought that it might actually be easier with her passed out, unable to resist anymore, flashed through her mind as she quietly headed towards the tools underneath the shadow of the rock face. She scanned the length of the edge back and forth as she got closer, dropping into a crouch as she passed into the shadow. She had to decide now. Her hammer, the ten-pound maul? Or Griselda’s hammer, the twenty-five pound sledge?

She made the decision quick, grabbing the twenty five pounder, and an unused drill bit too, and began to step in the direction of the cart when she heard rocks skittering down from above, falling around her. She snapped her head up, looking at the underside of the chin of the mountain lion, and she realized that if it was fifteen or twenty feet lower, she’d be in the perfect position to surprise the fuck out of it with a nasty blow to the face.

It was staring at the cart. Sniffing the air, slowly looking around in all directions except hers, and then it leapt down. She was surprised at how silent it could be, the landing barely more than a hushed thump as its furred feet pads and it’s springy, piston-like musculature of its legs absorbed the shock effortlessly. From behind, and close as it was to her, both of them in the shadow of the rock face, she could easily see every sinew under its skin. Every rib. Every point where the fur hung loose. She realized that yes, this was a hunter. This was a natural-born killer, a predator in every regard. But she also could see now, clearly, that it wasn't just hungry, it was starving. Its journey must have been long, harsh, and unforgiving. She didn’t quite feel bad for it though.

She was a predator too. That much Griselda had seen in her, recognized from the moment she’d met her, apparently. She was a killer, and the time to kill had come again. She knew that even though it was starving, the mountain lion was still probably five hundred pounds heavier than she was, and unlike her, it had claws and teeth sharpened on the bones of others. She still needed every advantage she could get, and so she carefully set her right foot against the crux of the rock face where it met the ground beneath her, and she pulled herself into it, and then…

She exploded, rocketing out of the shadow as fast as she could, lifting off from her launch pad and flying for the Etherian mountain lion, roaring blood and thunder.

It started from its crouching crawl, jumping several feet in the air and landing on all fours to face her, hissing and swatting, tail lashing, and it crouched again, about to spring into a pounce, and that’s when Valeria flung the drill bit, straight and true, less javelin-thrown-by-an-athlete and more spear-launched-by-a-spartan, aiming for the center mass of the lion’s bulk, and it pounced through the air, not counting on the creature that had surprised it already to surprise it again.

It flinched mid-jump, not much it could do to avoid the flying iron, and the two missiles collided mid-air. The Marine watched as the lion landed awkwardly next to her, its aim thrown off by its flinch, and she skidded on the gravel and came down hard on her side, eyes never breaking away from the beast right there next to her, and she could see where the bit had lodged itself, under the arm into the side of the sternum, right where the ribs met.

She was already back on her feet and swinging the sledgehammer, adrenaline pulsing through her arteries and fury throbbing between her eyes, the hot, sharp focus of _I-will-kill-you_ like a knife blade taken from a forge, and the mountain lion’s four eyes locked with hers in pain and anger and it lashed out a swiping, clawed paw, like a bladed flail, and it grazed her shoulder, shredding ribbons away and she was already swinging again and this time the sledge came down on the shoulder of the arm that the lion was trying to protect, the one with the bit stuck underneath, and the thump and the crack and the choked scream that came from the lion pushed a flood of something through Val’s brain that felt like _victory._

She doesn’t hesitate, not now, never now, in the moment of the kill. She hefts the sledge hammer again and as she raises it up, she realizes her mistake, seeing every muscle in the lion’s body suddenly tense and coil back like the drawstring of a bow, and as it looses, as the lion pounces, she just follows through, bringing the hammerhead down as hard as she possibly can and losing grip on it after the blow as she gets slammed to the ground as hard as the lion can manage, and it’s already tearing at her, ripping a gouging slash through her chest and she can feel nothing now except agony, and the clawing slows as the lion breathes heavily on top of her, eyes unfocusing and looking up, head jerking backwards.

The lion is moving, trying to move, but it’s legs aren’t letting it, and Val doesn’t know what the hell’s going on but she grabs the drill bit that’s now digging into her, digging into the gouge across her chest, biting into her ribs, and she grabs and she _shoves_ upwards as hard as she can, as hard as her muscles will let her, and the howling she hears isn’t just the lion’s pain, it’s her will, and she keeps shoving, pushing up now with her other arm and dragging her knee up underneath her as she twists around, the lion’s teeth crushing her shoulder above the gouge, and its claws finding purchase in her back, between her ribs, but she’s lifting now, deadlifting the bit into the weight of the crying lion, and she staggers back as it rolls over, and she sees the sledge on the ground, a few feet away.

She gulps in a ragged breath, and suddenly the exhaustion is already coming over her, the adrenaline has run out, the ATP burnt, and now all that’s left is her will to end this. She sticks a leg out and realizes as the pain scorches up it that something in it’s severely fucked up too, just like the rest of her. She swallows it and takes another step, adjusting her gait to a limp that works with the pain, and she sinks down to one knee and grasps the handle of the sledge near the head, and she steps up, staggers back, turns and faces the lion, wheezing and groaning, growling, on its side. It’s trying to drag itself away now, but it can’t. She actually sees the bloody indentation in its back, where she brought the hammer down upon it when it pounced her.

It’s paralyzed, she realizes, and she feels the burden of duty. The fury of the kill has left her now, and it’s just her will. The only way she survives.

She brings the sledge out to the side, lets it slide down through her grip until its at the right level. She heaves it up, uses her left arm as the dominant one for this. Her right arm, her shoulder, her chest, on that side. It’s all fucked up.

What’s really fucked up, she thinks, is that the drill bit is perfectly embedded in the Etherian mountain lion’s chest for a clean swing, at an angle that lets her swing the hammer with relative ease given her injuries, to send it through the heart.

She looks in its eyes and swings.

The rest of the journey is a blur in her memory later. She remembers the struggle of lifting Griselda out of the cart and onto her broken shoulders, her clawed back. She remembers making a choice, that she was going to get that woman to the doctor or die trying, and that no amount of pain would bring her to let her down. She remembers the realization that every step she took was a step closer to both life and death. She remembers feeling a deep, deep disappointment, bordering on anger and rage, as she stops remembering and slips into the black.


	8. Chapter 8

They were the worst injuries Niera Heartsigil had seen in… almost a decade.

And she could barely see them at all in the dark.

“I can’t do anything, not here. We need the fastest horses in the village, to get us to Willow Wells. Get these two loaded up on them, and make haste! And get torches!”

“Yes ma’am!” the lanky girl shouted, as if being ordered by a commander, and she rushed off to one of the farms on the outskirts of the village where she knew the horses like friends.

Minnius was standing there, next to the doctor, Niera, and shaking his head in his disbelief. He was on the verge of shock.

It had been bedtime. He’d been reading by candlelight, one of the books he’d gotten from his weekly visit to the library in Willow Wells, to gather news and books and learning materials for the younglings, and to take the last week’s books back to the library, and get the tea he and Grizzy enjoyed together every afternoon…

He burst into tears at the very thought of Grizzy. And then he feels bad that he’s _only_ thinking of Griselda, because Val’s hurt too, even worse, and, and, and... then there’s Niera, putting her arms around him, just for a second, and giving him a meaningful look that lets him know she knows what he’s thinking because they’ve known each other so long. And she let’s him know that no matter what, it’s going to be alright. That she’s going to do her best, and try her hardest. And that comforts him.

He breathes deeply, letting the tears run down his face as Niera gets back to work on the two women, now laying in a cart, on top of some old quilts and blankets Niera kept around for veterinary work and colds. She’s pretty much stabilized Griselda already, having worked some physical first aid and some healing magic from her days in the halls of Mystacor. She got a breath tube down Griselda’s throat and a drain inserted between her ribs to keep her from drowning on her own blood, and the spell she cast would prevent any more bleeding from happening, to an extent.

Her main focus now was to keep as much of Val’s blood _inside_ her. So far, she’d had to resort to cauterization, coupled with burn salve for the lesser of the major wounds, and she only had so much rune-dust for her spell-casting. Mainly she was worried about a large, deep bleed from the giant bite mark around her shoulder, where she couldn’t tell which artery it was coming from, possibly more than one, and the gouges on her chest and smaller ones on her back. Making matters worse, these were also on opposite sides of her body.

Niera decided to lay the Marine on her back after cauterization and salving of those smaller wounds, as they didn’t seem to be the source of the big bleed. She concentrated on the shoulder, which seemed to be the worst. She wouldn’t even worry about setting the bones, not until she’d managed to stabilize the woman. She carefully began the spell, expertly spreading the rune-dust in the intricate, specific pattern of this exact spell on the skin of the woman. So long as the lines were unbroken and true to form, it didn’t truly matter where exactly a caster set the dust, and she’d had lots of practice casting spells without a spell table during the war.

She closed her eyes and imbued it with her energy, pulling deep from within herself and giving it over freely, as easy as exhaling a breath, and just as calming. She opened her eyes, a little extra resolution and focus in them. The jitters she’d begun to have were gone, and she felt a little more confident in their chances of success, chances of survival.

_Now where were those horses?_

_Ah, there._

The lanky girl came riding back atop a tall horse, reigns of her horse in one hand, torchlight in the other hand, a couple more unlit in a pack on her back. She rode up and another rider on horseback, her father, appeared from behind her, another pack on his back, and they guided the horses in front of the cart.

As they started harnessing the horses to the cart, Minnius appeared back at Niera’s side, having slipped away after their moment as she went to work, and there he was, a picnic basket loaded to bear with salted jerky and cheese and cold water canteens and some coffee candies, the real strong ones that were worth about a cup a piece in caffeine content. He also had brought his lantern, the one with the side-shades and the adjustable eye-beam. Courtesy of Griselda, of course. The stonemason was an expert blacksmith as well and now it would help immensely in lighting the way ahead to help save her and Val’s lives.

“How are they?” Minnius asked, a grim resolve present in his voice that wasn’t there before. Rare, for him, to be so serious, but warranted, it certainly was.

“I think I’ve got them as stable as they’re going to get. I’m almost out of runedust, so that’ll be the first thing I stock back up on once they’ve made it safely to Willow Wells. I’m certain that with the right care, Grizzy’ll pull through.” she said. Minnius looked at her, waiting for what she hadn’t said yet. She took a breath and continued.

“...I can’t honestly say the same for Valeria. I don’t know if she’ll survive the night only to die tomorrow, or make it another week and then succumb to infection… or if she’ll even make it there at all. But we can still try. Her bleeding’s stopped, for now, for the most part. The sooner we leave, the better.”

“Alright. As soon as the horses are saddled, we ride.” Minnius said, nodding, and raising his lamp light up so he could crawl into the seat of the cart.

“Can I come with you?” the lanky girl said, startling Minnius as she suddenly appeared next to his side in the dark, warmly illuminated by his lantern light.

“Heavens, you scared me, child! You’re Namarcus’s girl, right?” Minnius said, composing himself and trying to smile.

“Yes, and my name’s not _child,_ it’s Reylina!” said the teenager, not wanting them to think she was too young to come with them.

“Of course, Reylina.” Minnius said, waiting for a reply.

“So I can come with you guys?” she asked in disbelief.

“Wait, what? No. This is a job for the adults to take care of, little one, sorry. You’ve done a very good job already, bringing the horses and torches, and for that we’re very grateful.”

Reylina looked down for a moment, then looked up again, about to try and argue that she needed to go since it was her horse, and as if on cue, not just hers but both of the horses began stamping and whinnying, and her eyes widened. There, in the dark near the edge of the treeline, a set of four eyes glinted as her father waved a torchlight through the air as he turned to look for what was causing all the racket.

“Niera?” Minnius asked, his already whisper-quiet voice wavering now.

“Yes, Minny?” she replied, not looking up from her last spell, not when she was so close to being done with the rune.

“Is that… Is that what I think it is?”

Doctor Heartsigil finished shaping the last of the rune into formation and quickly cast the spell, and looked up in the direction everyone else was looking now, a few torches lit and Minnius’ lantern turning to shine on the set of eyes.

“Mountain Lion,” she breathed, remembering the hunting trip from years ago, and very carefully motioning to the others to get back inside their homes and arm themselves, saying, “Go, go, get inside now. Minnius, Namarcus, Reylina, get in the cart. We’re leaving, _right now_.”

Reylina glanced between Niera and Minnius, who nodded at her now, and she climbed up into shotgun as her father Namarcus took the driver seat and Minnius hopped up into the back with Doctor Heartsigil. Minnius took one last glance around the village to make sure everyone had gotten inside safely and then nodded to Namarcus and Reylina.

The two gave each other a look and then cracked the reins in unison, and they flew.

Reylina gave Erdamis one last look behind and then set her eyes forward, trying not to think about the mountain lion or what might be in the darkness ahead.

The path to Willow Wells was traveled enough that it was mostly a smooth ride, not to mention the dedicated stonework to keep the paths marked and visible, as well as periodic marker stones every mile or so that stayed lit by their rune-magic year round. These helped guide the way through the Whispering Woods and after about half an hour they’d passed ten or so of the markers. Niera had lost count of them a while back, trying to keep pressure on some of Val’s wounds which kept bleeding. She was really beginning to worry. Val had already lost a lot of blood by the time the doctor had reached her, if the bloodsoaked clothes and trail she dripped on the ground was any indication, and she had had to replace the bandages she pressed to Val’s skin a couple of times now.

So when they rounded a corner and finally saw the glowing blue rune-lit sign that read _Welcome to Willow Wells_, she felt a great sigh of relief escape her. She took the last of her rune-dust and formed a simple firework incantation upon her palm, and shot it into the air, Reylina gasping as she looked up and watched it burn white overhead and explode into a bright, blue, glittering starburst above the town.

Niera watched as candlelights began lighting up across the town, and as a guard galloped out from his post, torch in hand. Minnius flashed his lantern’s eye open and shut, open and shut, and Namarcus began whooping and hollering as Reylina waved her torch in the air.

Niera almost wanted to laugh, for they must truly be a sight to behold, but she kept her gaze cool and collected, if not for a wry quirk on the corner of her lip.

The guard rode past them, turned, and galloped back beside them.

“State your name and business!” he said, torch aloft in the air to illuminate them without blinding himself.

“Doctor Niera Heartsigil, I’ve got critically wounded people, and I need to see Doctor Ikarian immediately! Would you send for them, and tell them we need Willow Well water, and rune dust, and lots of it!”

“I shall. You know the way to the doctor’s?” the guardsman asked, making sure.

“I do.” Doctor Heartsigil replied with a certain nod.

“Then I’ll go on ahead and alert the doctor, and make sure the townsfolk stay out of the way.”

“Thank you.” Niera said, and he nodded back and sped away.

She looked down at Val and Griselda. “Hang on, we’re practically there.”


	9. Chapter 9

Doctor Selinius Ikarian had been sleeping.

Had been.

Not anymore.

They'd been asleep a good... hour? Maybe? When something had exploded over their head.

It took the reptalinian a second to get their senses to pull together as they started, first thinking that the horde had suddenly launched a surprise invasion in the middle of the night somehow. After a second of frantic scrambling out of bed to get to the candles, and after seeing the glittery blue glow falling gently from the sky like fireworks, Ikarian realized exactly who was riding into town and for what. They and Doctor Heartsigil had agreed years ago that if either of them had needed medical help, to shoot a blue rune dust firework over the other's house as they rode into town. Ikarian had never thought they'd actually need it unless the Horde began advancing further south, away from the main conflict zones, which seemed unlikely now that She-Ra had returned from her thousand-year nap and was kicking Horde ass left and right.

The doctor began preparing. If Heartsigil was on her way here, it had to be serious. Ikarian went to the operation pool and washed their hands up to their elbows in a large wall-mounted basin of Willow Water and a Salineas Coral scrub pad, a rare commodity these days. The basin had been an interesting design, straight from Brightmoon, with the latest foot-pedal water pump system so you could wash and rinse as fast as possible. Ikarian turned their thoughts towards the tasks ahead.

Meanwhile, town guardsman Otis Scrumpton was about ready to throw his blasted helmet at the ground, damn the thing, couldn't hardly see anything out of it in the dark and the slat-grill of the face plate kept falling down over his eyes as he bounced up and down on his horse. A few people had opened their doors and were looking up at the glowing blue dust of the firework slowly drizzling down around them in awe or confusion or annoyance from being woken up. He almost chuckled as he rode past Old Gray's place, door closed, windows dark. That old timer could sleep through just about anything, and often did.

Otis careened around a corner and nearly knocked someone over and yelled "Sorry ma’am! Make way! Doctor and wounded coming through! Make way! Sorry- excuse me! Make way!"

Back in Doctor Ikarian's home, they pulled a mega-lily from the side of the pool nearer to them. These massive lily pads were large enough to float a person on them and allowed them to still be partially submerged in the magical water of the pool. On a smaller lily pad, Ikarian began placing surgical instruments and potions, vials of rune dust, as well as other odds and ends that might prove useful in certain circumstances. That was when a pounding came from the front door.

"Doctor Ikarian, it's town guardsman Otis, a Doctor.. Doctor Nearly... no, Doctor Heartsurgeon.... no, Doctor - oh." he said, as Ikarian opened the door. "Yes, uh, there's a doctor riding in with a cart load of wounded and she's coming this way. She said get a bunch of rune dust and well water ready."

Selinius stood there in shock for a quiet second.

"Well? What are you standing there for?"

"A cartload of wounded?" they repeated.

"Well, not the whole cart, it looked like a couple in the back, and four riders."

"Okay, that will do. Would you mind keeping watch out front for when they arrive, and keeping anyone else away from the door once they get here?"

"Of course," Otis said with a nod that slid his faceplate back down over his eyes and he didn't quite catch it in time to stop it, so he flipped it up again with a defeated sigh and walked back to his horse.

Ikarian quickly made their way back to the operation pool and began pulling more supplies off the shelves and floating them on lily pads, hopefully more than enough for two people. They pulled another one around closer to where they'd perform their work, and it was just then when they heard the cart arrive out front, all squeaky axles and huffing horses and urgent voices.

Ikarian took a deep breath and held it for a second, letting it out as they got up and went to guide in their old friend and her patients, grabbing a couple of folded up stretcher carriers.

"Niera, what's the situation?" Ikarian said as they reached the door.

"Two wounded, one stable, one still losing a lot of blood." She said, motioning for the small man who had just got out of the cart to come help her. "I ran out of rune dust on the way here trying to stop it, that firework was my last bit." Niera said, getting up from where she was pressing a blanket against a bleed to staunch it, gesturing for him to do the same in her place. "Oh thank She-Ra, you brought litters. We left in such a hurry back there I couldn't get mine." she said with relief, taking one that Ikarian was offering to her. She unrolled the two wooden poles, the heavy-duty cloth stretching out between them.

Ikarian climbed up into the cart, looking over the wounds with a practiced eye, and then kneeling next to the human girl. "Niera, this one's your critical, correct?"

"Yes, we need to get her in the water first." Niera said.

"Alright. You, and you, help her and I lift this one up." Ikarian said, nodding to the cart driver and the guardsman. The small man holding the bandage asked, "Do you need me to lift too, or just stay out of the way?"

"Just keep holding pressure like Niera asked, and we'll lift her up." Ikarian said affirmatively. The man nodded and kept pressing, shuffling to the side a little bit to let the others in around him to get in position to pick up Val.

"Alright, everyone's in position, we're going to very carefully roll her on to her side and slide the litter under, then gently let her back down onto it, and take her inside." Niera said, holding the woman's head and neck between her hands to keep it steady and mitigate any injuries there.

"On three." She said, and they counted to three and executed the maneuver, keeping the wounded woman held tight, and then set her back down once the litter was in place. The tricky part now was getting the litter down off the cart without _spilling its contents,_ but they managed it and once they were all firmly on the ground, they moved quickly into the home, following Doctor Ikarian's instructions towards the healing pool. They set her down next to it and Ikarian stepped into the waist-deep, glowing blue water, and helped guide her onto the lily pad, carefully removing the litter from beneath her once she was afloat, and then they went back for the other.

Ikarian realized picking up this one would be a little more difficult than the first woman. She was almost a head taller, and thick-muscled shoulders, arms, and thighs. Clearly she _worked_ for her living. This time Minnius and Reylina helped too, jumping in as soon as they saw the carrying team struggling to lower her down. They all carried her inside and helped set her on the second lily pad.

As soon as she was in the water, so were the doctors, immediately taking off the bandages and wrappings, and getting to work, talking calmly but quickly to agree on procedure. A knock on the door pulled the other’s attention away and Otis realized he was supposed to be guarding the door, not gawking at Ikarian and Heartsigil.

He motioned for the others to follow him outside, saying “We should probably give them some space to work, and uh, check out what that is outside.”

Minnius agreed and swept Reylina and her father towards the door with an affirming nod and ushering hands. As he left the room, he gave Niera a look.

“We’ll be fine. We’ll come out when we’re done and let you know.” She said, barely giving him a glance.

“You all can stay in the living room for tonight, it doubles as a waiting area sometimes, and there’s some cots in the hall closet.” Ikarian added.

With one final nod and a quiet “thank you”, he closed the door behind him and turned to the large gathering of people outside as Guardsman Scrumpton did his best to quietly get everyone back to bed. Minnius sighed. Suddenly he noticed the chill in the air, the light breeze making him shiver more than it ought to. The crowd dispersed soon enough, probably noticing the chill too.

“Come on, sleep is the doctors orders. Cots in the hall closet, we’ll stay in the livingroom tonight.” Minnius said quietly, to Reylina and her father. “I think you should probably stay with us just in case, Guardsman.” he added.

“Yeah, I’ll stick around until the doctors tell me to go away.” he said. They went back inside quietly, set out the cots, and laid down.

Sleep was gonna be another story.


	10. Chapter 10

Ikarian had been sure after an hour or so that Griselda would make a full recovery from her broken ribs and punctured lung. Most people only needed a drop or two of Willow Well Water, sometimes a vial or two, but sometimes people with serious injuries like hers came in, and they’d have no choice but to stay in the pool for a few hours, letting the healing magic in the water do its work with some of Ikarian’s guidance with the rune dust. But after that, they’d be well enough to get up on their own and provided they didn’t immediately re-injure themselves again, would be completely fine.

And then there was Val.

How she was still alive, Ikarian wasn’t completely sure. What they were certain of, is that if Doctor Heartsigil hadn’t gotten her when she did, she would likely be under a white sheet right now.

However, from what Ikarian understood, her rune magic knowledge only went so far. She had decided to stay away from the frontlines and the Capitol, Brightmoon, instead opting for the peaceful life out on the frontiers of civilization. She knew what she knew very well, but there was a lot of new knowledge in recent years that had yet to make it to the small frontier towns like Erdamis.  
What Heartsigil had done to keep Val alive thus far had been to close the arteries and cauterize the smaller wounds, as well as some magic to keep her blood pressure and heart rate at an optimal level. But after that, she only knew how to close wounds as opposed to fully heal them, as well as prevent infection.

What Ikarian would do if they were in a hospital in Brightmoon. Blood test and transfusion, and then IV her with a light Well Water solution, as well as having a whole room full of Mystacor’s finest healers there working round the clock too. Unfortunately _(or possibly fortunately, Ikarian thought to themself)_ for Val, all the good doctor had was willow water.

So, they were going to use it.

All of it.

“Niera.”

“Plan?”

“Just one.”

“I’m listening.”

“We’ve got to take her to the Wellspring.”

Niera tore her eyes from Val, and locked onto Ikarian with them.

“What?” she asked.

“The Wellspring is the only place close enough and strong enough to heal her. This pool will grow dark before she recovers.”

And Ikarian was right. In fact, she’d noticed the glow had been growing fainter, and was meaning to ask about that.

“I mean, I am _all_ for it, but… your council… they’re even less lenient about certain things than the Council of Erdamis. This could mean imprisonment or banishment for you. Possibly even worse.”

“I know. And I do not care. I took an oath. That means something to me.”

“Thank She-Ra. But what’ll you do?”

“Well, if the time comes, I’ll do whatever is decided by the council. But until then, I see no reason to go telling them we made a trip to the Wellspring.”

“Ah.” Niera nodded, a very small smile pulling up the corner of her lip. “Neither do I.”

They sat in silence for a moment, considering the course of action they’d just decided on.

“Will your group go with us?” Ikarian asked, contemplating.

“Minnius absolutely will, he cares too much, and he does love a good bit of trouble every now and then. Brekkan, Reylina’s father, he’ll help out if Minnius does, and Reylina’s a good girl, she’ll wanna help too, but she’s just a girl. And Griselda, when she wakes up, I think she'll have no problem going either. Might be a tough walk for her though.” Niera finished.

“Okay, okay good," Selinius said thoughtfully, "Alright. So what time tomorrow do you think we should carry her to the wellspring? Early but not too early?”

“Actually, if we’re trying to do this without being seen...” Niera trailed off, rubbing her jaw and her eye on her shoulder to scratch an itch without touching her face with her hands, “the cover of night would work best for us. How long do you think it would take to get to the Wellspring?”

Niera was right, using the cover of darkness would make a lot more sense in this situation.

“Hmm… by myself, it normally takes a couple of hours. With a group of people trading out carrying a litter with someone on it at night? We might not make it till daybreak. I'm also worried about the risk of hiking through the Whispering Woods at night. Not just some of the animals but the much more likely possibility of tripping and injuring her worse or something.” the Reptalinian doctor said, a hint of doubt still tinging their voice.

“Good point. Do you have enough rune dust for me to cast some night vision spells?"

Yes, that would be perfect, too."

"Alright. Oh, and how long for the magic water to work?”

“Full recovery? On this mess? Six to nine hours.” Ikarian said gruffly.

“Sixtynine hours!?” Niera almost gasped, eyes wider than dinner plates.

“No, _no_, six _to_ nine hours,” Ikarian said, cutting parallel lines down the air with their hands as though setting some invisible box straight.

“_Ohhh._ Got it. You know, for a second there I was like, wow, that big number is awful specific.”

They sat for a moment in silence. The tension had broken, just for a second, only to be replaced by a new one.

“Well, no use waiting for the water to get stale. Let’s let the others in on the plan and get going.” Niera said, beginning to cleanup and get out of the water.

“Agreed. And you may need some new clothes, so you don’t freeze as soon as you walk outside or something.” Ikarian said, pushing the patients towards the edge of the pool.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly able to pack my bags before I came here, so. You got any?”

“Yeah, take whatever fits from the closet in the hall. That’s where I keep the extra garments. Oh, and if you would, get another set of medical garbs for the both of us too, while you’re in there.”

“Alright. I’ll change and wake up the others.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: pronoun fuck up, my bad
> 
> i really need to proofread this shit damn


	11. Chapter 11

Niera hadn’t even had to wake up the group. Nobody had gone to sleep yet. Well, no one except Guardsman Otis. Niera wasn’t sure if she should tell the plan with him in the room until Ikarian had asked Otis if he wanted to actually do something in his job description for once. Otis had been taken aback for a second, assuming rudeness, but then Ikarian explained, saying, “We haven’t had an attack, a bandit raid, or even a thief in the market in years. Your job is to protect and serve. And we need someone to help carry her to where we’re going next.”

To which Otis had nodded and slowly replied, “Where _are_ we going next?”

To which Ikarian had replied, “You have to agree to go before I can tell you. But just, know this: this woman is not going to recover if we can’t move her.”

Otis thought for a second. Then he looked down, nodded once, and looked back up to say, “Alright. I’m in.”

“We’re going to the Wellspring.” Niera said.

Otis blinked and then said, “_Ohhh_, okay now it all makes sense. Actually that should have been really obvious. When are we going?”

“Right now,” Niera said, folding up the doctor garbs and stuffing them in a pack Ikarian had just brought out.

“Huh, that should have been really obvious too. Right, night time, sneaking out to places we could be banished for going, cover of darkness and all. Um, a quick question, why aren’t we taking the horses and the cart, and how long is this going to take?”

“That cart won’t make it though to the Wellspring, and we’ll probably be carrying her till tomorrow morning,” Ikarian said, putting some bags of instruments and rune dust and some Well Water next to the bag Niera was packing, then both of them walking back into the pool room to get Griselda.

“Till morning?” Otis asked, jaw starting to drop. “Cripes, you’re serious,” he muttered, seeing everyone else going on about and getting ready. “Well, I’m not walking a million miles in this blasted helmet at night,” he said, and he started taking it off, most of his other armor too. The only thing he kept besides his pants and his shirt was his sword and greave-boots, which were all one piece anyway, and as much as he was trying to cut down on the weight, walking barefoot in the woods at night seemed like a good way to end up having to stay in the Wellspring. Which might not actually be…

_You know what, nevermind._ he thought, cutting off that train of thought and getting to packing.

Reylina on the other hand was happy. Even though she had just been falling asleep when Niera had come to get everyone up, now she was awake. Exhausted, but excited too. They’d saved Griselda and now they were definitely going to save Val, so whatever it took seemed worth it to her.

And then there was Griselda, who was not _as_ happy. She wasn’t in a lot of pain anymore, and she could breathe pretty well, but she was still cold from the pool even after drying off with the towel Niera gave her and she had a pounding headache to go with her drowsy exhaustion.

The doctors explained the situation to her and she understood they were going to be doing a whole bunch of things that they weren’t supposed to be doing. Like being awake when it was time to be asleep, and carrying people in the dark without a cart, or lights, or a map, or anything.

Also they were breaking some “council rule” or something.

_Whatever._

And then, it was time to go. Niera cast a night vision spell so they didn’t have to use lanterns until they were way past the outskirts and into the foothills, and they all fell in step behind Ikarian. They would lead the way from the front with Otis, both of them carrying the head of the stretcher, with Brekkan and Niera hauling the foot of it, as Griselda, Reylina, and Minnius followed behind.

As it turned out, getting out of town was the easy part. Everyone had gone back to bed, and all the candle lights in the village had been snuffed out again. Thanks to Niera’s night vision spell, things looked almost as clear as day, with a slight blue hue.

They rounded a bend and felt the trail rise beneath their feet. They were going up, and soon they found themselves in switchback after switchback, crossing a river several times, and in a couple tricky areas, having to carefully navigate rockslides that had covered the trail. It had been a while since anyone had taken this way, and longer still since anyone had taken care of it.

They switched out every so often. Griselda had made a feeble attempt to pitch in, more to help alleviate the strain on her friends than to help carry Val, but she was quickly shut down anyway.

“I won’t have you somehow hurting yourself again, not when you’re this close to being fully recovered. Having you out hiking around like this is risky for you anyway. You _should_ be in bed rest for at least another day or so, but we didn’t quite have the luxury.” Niera had said sternly.

Griselda raised her hands in the air, gesturing surrender, and didn’t ask again.

Her thoughts started to wander. Before she realized it, she was wondering how she’d ended up on a stealth mission outside Willow Wells, going to their most coveted secret, the source of the magical water. Last she remembered, she was dying on the mountain top. She couldn’t barely breathe let alone make the hike all the way down to the village. Had… had Val gotten her down? And what of the mountain lion? Suddenly, Val’s injuries made… sense. Griselda could feel herself waking up. It felt like a rush of cold water shooting up her spine. She swallowed.

_Woods alive, I’ve been out of it. Did she fight that lion?_

_Did she win?_

_Did she carry me off the moutain?_

_Wh-_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle brushing at her side, and Reylina looking at her with a mixture of concern and expectancy.

“Sorry, what?” Griselda blinked.

“I said are you feeling better now?” Reylina asked.

“Oh. Yes, much better. Just… thinking. I was a little cold but the walk warmed me up. Honestly... I haven’t felt this good in a while. I knew the water here was magic but I didn’t know it was _that magic._” she said with a small laugh.

“Yeah, my dad got me some a few years ago when I cut myself with one of the tools. He got me all bandaged up but the water really helped to make the pain and the cut go away faster.” Reylina said.

Griselda just nodded and gave a slight smile.

Reylina glanced at her, a mischievous grin grew on her face.

“Hey, since you’re feeling so good right now, can you give me a piggy back ride to the spring?” She asked, half-serious, half-joking.

“Oh for first one’s sake, Reylina. I’m out of the hospital, what, five minutes, and you’re asking for piggyback rides? Can’t believe you.” she said with extreme disgust in her voice, shaking her head and looking away from her.

Reylina was in shock. She didn’t mean to be rude, she was just-

_Wait._

Griselda started laughing and nodded, waving the girl towards her and bending down on a knee so she could climb up.

“C’mon, you gonna get up here or not?” she said as Reylina stood there in some kind of bewilderment.

Reylina blinked a couple times and the grin returned to her face and she happily jumped on top of Griselda, who gave a bit of a good-natured grunt and heaved her up, supporting her legs with her hands, and off they went, down the trail behind the litter team.

“I’m just kind of surprised Big Bad Griselda actually gave me a piggyback ride.” Reylina said happily, leaning her head on Griselda’s shoulder, closing her eyes.

“That’s _Miss_ Big Bad Griselda to you, young’un,” Griselda said, smiling, “I’m surprised too. I guess I just feel good for right now.”

That made Reylina feel a little sad. She readjusted her arms around Miss Big Bad Griselda’s chest and looked at the woman’s eyes, or what she could see of them. Even now, in the happy creases starting around them from the smile that was beginning to rest easy on her face, she could just make out where they might crease if she was crying.

“...Do you feel bad most of the time?” Reylina asked with a hush to her voice, afraid to break something, something fragile.

“No. I just… Sometimes life is hard. You know. Especially when you know it could be better. Especially when there’s not much you can do to make it better. When it’s out of your hands. I’m alright, but sometimes, life is hard, girl.” Griselda said, sighing the last of the sentence in a way that said that was all she wanted to say about that.

“Sometimes I feel like that too. But you know what makes it better?” she said with a hint of mirth in her voice.

“What’s that?” Griselda said, ready for some sort of mischief.

“Piggyback rides.” Reylina said.

Griselda let out a good chuckle.

Doctor Ikarian heard something from behind, and looked back, almost dropping the litter when they saw Griselda laughing and carrying Reylina on her back.

They sputtered and Minnius just said, “Let them be, Selinius. This is the happiest I’ve seen her in a long time. I trust she knows her own limits, especially now that she’s seen what happens when she barrels past them like a bull.”

Doctor Ikarian looked to Doctor Heartsigil, who nodded at the point Minnius had made and said, “He’s right, about her. And, sometimes, laughter is perfectly good medicine.”

Selinius Ikarian just gave a huff and one last sidelong glare, and then kept walking.

The litter team took breaks every now and then, to get a drink of water or switch out or apply some more healing water and rune dust. The majority of the rest of the trek went without incident, thankfully, with no run ins with wildlife or accidents, and Val remained mostly stable.

For the majority of the trek.

It was right about when daylight was beginning to break, a barely noticeable shift with the night vision runes cast over the group’s eyes, which had lasted a lot longer than Niera had expected. As good as everything had been, for how bad the situation was, the group was flat out exhausted. The trail had been leading them evenly uphill after the initial set of switchbacks and rock slides, and had reached its peak at a hilltop where they had taken another break. Then it led them down. Switchback after steep switchback until they found themselves at the bottom of the ravine and across a river. By the time they reached it they were all cursing whoever had built the trail as they’d had several close-calls and near-falls, trip-ups, and mis-steps, all while trying to keep Val on the litter and not rolling down the hillside like a game of human plinko with the trees.

“Alright, I’ve been trying not to ask, but I’ve got to;” Guardsman Scrumpton said, between breaths, “Are we there yet?”

Nobody had the energy to even groan.

“It’s just over this hill, Guardsman,” Doctor Ikarian said, panting, “but the way down on that side is even more treacherous than this.” they said regretfully.

“Oh cripes, why’d I even ask.” Otis gasped.

“She-ra’s sword. Just stab me with it, please,” Doctor Heartsigil said, hands on her knees as she struggled to get her breathing under control.

“You said it was even more treacherous than the hill we came off of. How bad, exactly?” Griselda said, just slightly less out of breath than everyone else.

Doctor Ikarian looked about the faces of the group.

“You’re not gonna like it. It’s about six hundred steps, six-hundred-and-six to be exact, yes, I’ve counted them, every single time I come here, and they’re each about a foot tall a piece.”

“Each step is a foot tall?” Otis said, whatever remaining resolve in the Guardsman’s eyes dying immediately.

“Yes, just about. No, I don’t know who’s brilliant idea it was, yes, if I ever meet them, they are going to need a trip to the spring, and no, I will not be carrying them.” Doctor Ikarian said.

Reylina, having recovered her breath a bit faster than the old goats, chimed in, “Okay, so, five more minutes and then we get going?”

That got a breathless laugh from those who could, and heads shaking in disbelief from Minnius, Brekkan, and Otis.

“Please, Reylina, have mercy on your ancestors,” her father said, half-joking, half-pleading.

“I mean, we do have to go, we can’t just let her keep bleeding like that, can we?” she said, pointing at Val.

“What?” Doctors Ikarian and Heartsigil said in unison, both their heads snapping in Val’s direction, where sure enough, one of the wounds had reopened and was beginning to soak a bandage with blood again.

All of a sudden the group burst into motion as the Doctors both started communicating and scrambling for supplies and the others got ready for whatever they might need them to do.

“Griselda, if you can carry the front, please, and you two, get the back end,” Niera said, pointing towards Otis and Brekkan, who both nodded and started for the end of the litter.

“Rune dust here,” Ikarian said, handing over a leather pouch of the stuff to Heartsigil, who immediately began preparing another rune, a really powerful one this time, using the entire bag. Ikarian began pulling vials of the wellspring water out and irrigating the wound just under the bandage. “Hey, wait for our mark to lift,” they said to the three getting ready to pick up the litter, who waited.

Minnius said, “Let’s pick up these packs for them and get ready to go,” to Reylina who nodded and they began picking up the extra bags now on the ground.

“Alright, spell’s cast, everybody ready?” Niera said, looking each person in the eye on the litter team as she finished the spell, making sure everyone was paying attention and ready, “Okay, three, two, one, lift.”

Up Val went, and the Doctors beside her, Ikarian checking to see how the wound was clotting and Heartsigil preparing more rune dust. Minnius and Reylina followed closely behind, and they got back on the trail and started heading up the hillside, which was beginning to feel more and more like an actual mountain.

The group started getting a good speed under them, slowing down for corners of the switchbacks, and letting the doctors take a second or two to adjust something here or apply more dust and water there, and then off they went again, going as fast as they could, Griselda setting the pace as the front end of the litter.

All that could be heard besides the morning chirping of the birds in the trees, and the wind beginning to rush through the branches was the hard breathing of the team working its way up the mountain, and the clear, even speak between the two doctors, clearly a language, but one only they among the group understood, sacrificing any sort of common grammar for quick, life-saving operation short hand.

It was right when they crested the top that of the ridge that the group really got their legs underneath them and they almost started flat out sprinting to the other side of the saddle between hilltops. It was like turning a bend and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, as the sun came up over the horizon and a valley could be seen opening up just behind the branches of the trees. Niera and Ikarian had a short spat of doctor latin and then they both issued the command to slow down, and the group slowed down just in time, reaching where the path ran over tree roots and hard rock and turned into a sheer staircase that wove and wound and twisted down the hillside, under trees and along unprotected cliff edges. The air was immediately cooler here, and the scent of sweet water permeated the air, crisp and fresh, as the low rush of water falling and crashing reached their ears.

They were so close, all they had to do was get down these damned steps.

They took it slow over the first ones, not quite sure exactly the best method to get Val, the litter, and the people carrying it, down and over each step. But they soon figured it out, and after about ten or fifteen of the dastardly stairs they built a new rhythm. The steps were large, not just in height, but also in width, and two could just pass next to each other on them. They began a chain of two teams of carriers, passing Val from one pair of carriers to the next. But it would take time to get her all the way down, and there was nothing they could do about that.

So, agreeing that they should try to save time where they could, Doctors Ikarian and Heartsigil came to a decision.

“Minnius and Reylina, head down to the spring with the packs and find a good area near the water and get it set up for us so we can start as soon as we get there,” Niera said.

Ikarian added a few details about where to look for decent spots on the bank of the spring, preferably one that was flat and had lots of space, and where the water wasn’t too shallow or too deep, as well as what items to get out first and to see if they could get a mega lily for Val, too.

With that, the duo set off, carefully stepping around the carrier team, and as Reylina passed by, her father holding the litter said, “Be careful, Rey, we’ll see you soon.”

She turned to look and say, “We will, see-” and that’s when she stepped on the edge of the step, twisting her ankle and slamming into the litter as she went down, trying to grab onto something to stop her fall.

She gasped and closed her eyes as she hit something hard that gave way, and all she heard was clattering and yelling of people and litter crashing down and falling down the stone staircase.

Minnius and the doctors, seeing the horror happening in front of them, immediately dashed forward to try and stop the momentum, to grab the litter, or Val, or Reylina, _anyone and anything_ \- but they ended up trying to dance over Brekkan who was struggling hard to keep Otis and the litter upright, both at off angles, and Reylina who had crashed into Griselda’s left side, knocking the litter out of her grip and pushing her down over the next step, and Minnius, in front of the doctors, accidentally getting in their way by trying to get out of their way, tripping and falling himself and smashing into the litter, sending it flying out of Brekkan’s and Otis’s hands and straight for Griselda.

Niera was biting down the urge to scream in despair and rage as she tried to clamber over the tangle of people on these damned steps when Griselda, down about four stairs further away now than she had been at the start, pushed herself up and off the step in a lightning flash, hurdling towards the body tumbling down the steps towards her and staggering back as she caught it, turning to redirect the momentum and skidding down another two steps on her ass before coming to a stop.

And Niera gasped in relief. She didn’t have anything to say, but that she was eternally grateful it was Griselda who’d been in front, to catch Val. She was already at Griselda’s side by the time her combat medic brain kicked in again and she started barking commands.

“Ikarian I’ve got Griselda and Val, you check them and see who’s okay and who’s not!” she shouted, turning immediately and helping Griselda lay Val down on the steps to check for head and neck injuries.

“AYE!” the Reptalinian roared from above and began helping to get everyone else back up on their feet.

“No visible head or neck, checking pulse-” she said, pausing a moment.

“Guardsman, unresponsive - head injury, check on pulse! All others stable!” Ikarian shouted back down.

“Check on pulse! Weakening, losing blood fast,” Niera said, looking down at the amount of red pouring out of – everywhere.

“All her wounds reopened, we have to get her down now!” Niera shouted, looking back up to Ikarian who was – who - 

_Oh, for the sake of the first one’s, no,_ Niera thought, as a grimace spread across her already-anguished face, as she looked at the shattered litter laying between her and the rest of the group.

“I’ve got her.”

“Wha-” Niera asked, turning her head to see who was talking to her.

“I’ve got her. All I’ve gotta do is get her to the water, right?” Griselda said more than asked, face set with grim determination as she hefted Val into her arms bridal style, standing straight-backed to look Niera in the eyes.

“I- yeah. Yes, get her to the spring now. Don’t fall. Don’t you dare friggin’ fall.”

“I won’t fall.” Griselda said, as blood began leaking down her front, “You take care of them. I’ve got her.”

And she turned and began taking the steps two at a time.


	12. Chapter 12

Griselda’s back, thighs, shoulders... everything was burning by the time she reached the water and got Val in it. She hadn’t had time to go swim out and get a mega lily pad for Val to lay on, so she’d just ran into the water carrying her until she was standing up to her elbows in the spring and she just… held her.

There was nothing else she could do until the others got down to them.

So.

She held Val afloat.

She kept as much of her wounds under the glowing blue water as she could, which meant the only thing really sticking out of the water was Val’s head, so she could breathe.

Griselda could feel the water’s magic soaking into her, though. The burning in her muscles and ache in her knees and back from jumping down nearly three hundred of those First One forsaken steps with the woman in her arms was beginning to fade and she felt like her strength was coming back to her now, almost like she could hold her forever.

The pond was beginning to glow pinkish purple though, from all of Val’s blood in the water. It was an… unsettlingly pretty glow. It also made it hard to see how Val’s wounds were doing. She was already on the brink before, back in Doctor Ikarian’s home-hospital. Griselda felt an encroaching, impending danger, like an unavoidable fate, that came no matter how far you ran or how hard you fought.

A feeling of…

_Too late. We were too late._

She pushed her thoughts away with the frenzied strength of hope. If there was anywhere on Etheria that could work the miracle needed to save Val now, it was here in this wellspring. If there was anyone who could save her, it was her and Doctor Heartsigil and Doctor Ikarian.

A darker thought crossed her mind and she immediately punished herself for thinking it.

Instead, she balanced the woman on her left hand and swirled the water around her with the other, clearing away the blood as much as she could, and she lapped handfuls of it up and onto the great wounds on Val’s chest and shoulders, into the punctured holes of the lion’s bite and the valleys of the gashes.

She kept motioning the healing water into the wounds, feeling an urgent, but calm sense of purpose, as she looked upon Val’s face, brow almost furrowed, eyes closed, breathing shallow, mouth slightly parted.

It was then that she saw the ripples of the water around her and she looked over, seeing the doctors wading in next to her.

“I’ll grab that lily over there,” Doctor Heartsigil said, nodding in the direction of the closest lily which was still a good deal of distance away.

Doctor Ikarian stood next to her and began checking pulse and breathing.

“Well, she’s still here after all this. I think we have a sliver of a chance here, but that’s all we need. Just keep holding her up until Doctor Heartsigil gets back with that lily, and we’ll take the rest from here.”

Griselda nodded, and then asked, “What about the Guardsman, Otis?”

“I believe he’ll be alright. He hit his head pretty hard back there but he’s stable as well. We’ll put him in the water momentarily. But first there is something we must do, as soon as possible.” Doctor Ikarian said.

Griselda tilted her head, not understanding.

Doctor Heartsigil swam back over pulling the giant leaf behind her until she could get her footing again, and Griselda and Doctor Ikarian lifted her up and onto the lily pad.

“One of the things about this place is that...” Doctor Ikarian began, but trailed off for a moment. “This is another secret, one even the council does not know about. No one knows about it, save for myself, and now, you. What I am about to say cannot be repeated. Ever. And I would rather neither of you ever repeat it even in my company. It is simply better to forget. Am I understood?” They asked, gravely serious.

“Understood,” both Doctor Heartsigil and Griselda replied in unison.

Doctor Ikarian nodded and swallowed. “From what I have learned to understand, from all my years of research, is that Etheria is much more than it appears. Its ecosystem is vastly complex, a mesh of both completely natural organic life, and a… an insanely advanced, artificial... technology doesn’t do it justice, but for lack of a better term, that is what I will use to refer to it. This technology is what the First Ones had mastery of. You’ve heard of their temples, and the legends of course, and now we know that at least some of these legends must be based in truth if not completely truthful in and of themselves, simply because of the existence of She-Ra. She’s living proof that not only did the First Ones exist, but that their mastery of technology and nature was so complete they can unite both, flawlessly.”

Doctor Ikarian swallowed, and continued.

“The entire planet appears to be connected somehow. There are massive conduits of energy flowing throughout, some buried deep, some just beneath the surface, like arteries and capillaries. This energy can be channeled through focusing lenses and used. You would know these focal lenses as the Runestones each Princess is entrusted with. The thing is, while these focal lenses can be as powerful as the ones the Princesses have, most are not nearly as… powerful or as polished as theirs. But they are still out there, and they are still sources of immense power, capable of both construction and destruction.”

Doctor Heartsigil and Griselda looked on raptly.

“This brings me to where we’re at now. This wellspring is not the source of the magical power that I use to heal my patients, its simply another conduit through which the energy flows. The source of the power that leaks into the water here, is a runestone. It’s no princess’s runestone, cut and polished and focused by First One’s over a millennia ago. In fact it may be an unfinished one. It appears to be… raw. Unfocused. While not as powerful as a Princess runestone, it’s still pure energy.”

Doctor Ikarian took a deep breath and finished.

“Based on Val’s condition, the fact that we just went back to square one...” They paused, shaking their head thinking about the accident on the stairs, “and my experience working with this magic… I can say with certainty that if we only allow her to heal in the pool, she will not fully recover. She may have difficulty moving not just her arm, but everything, as she appears to have serious injuries to her back as well, and she will likely suffer that as well as chronic pain for the rest of her life. But if we try to get her closer to the actual runestone, she may make a full recovery.”

“Why are you even asking? Let’s do it already,” Griselda said, looking down at Val.

“Hold up. There’s a big catch in there, isn’t there, Doctor Ikarian?” Doctor Heartsigil asked, saying, “You haven’t ever done this before, I take it,” to which Doctor Ikarian nodded solemnly, “and there’s no way to know what could happen if she gets too close. You did say these runestones have immense capability for construction and _destruction_, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Which is why I’m asking, instead of making the decision myself. There’s one other big catch, as well.” Doctor Ikarian said, with a sigh.

They both looked at him expectantly.

“Getting to the runestone. Its in a cave. I’ve only ever explored there once. Its underwater, and I nearly drowned both getting to it and getting back out.”

“So how are we supposed to get her to it, if we even decide to do this?” Doctor Heartsigil asked. “How long would it take for her to heal?”

“I have no way of knowing how long it would take. As far as getting there, maybe we could design some sort of… system to carry air for us. In theory, we would only need to take a few breaths every now and then, but swimming is a strenuous activity, and still requires a high air intake. But we’d still have to figure out how we would get her to breathe like that when she’s unconscious.”

“What kind of a system could we even make? There’s nothing out here, it’s all grass and trees and rocks.” Griselda said. “I don’t even have any tools to work with.”

“Maybe we could try connecting some reeds together? To make a breathing straw?” Doctor Heartsigil suggested halfheartedly.

“I think you’d be hard-pressed to find enough reeds that are wide enough in diameter to supply enough air for two people to breathe through, and even then, how would we seal them together so water doesn’t get in?” Ikarian asked.

Every thing they thought of had at least a couple major flaws.

After a few minutes, they had completely exhausted themselves thinking about the problem.

“Well, she seems stable for now, I’m going to check on Otis and the others, maybe that will help clear my head and I’ll think of something,” Doctor Ikarian said, turning and wading back towards the group resting on shore.

“What if I just… swam?” came a quiet, raspy voice.

The three of them turned and looked at Val.

“Are you awake?” Griselda asked incredulously.

“No.” Val said as flatly as possible.

Griselda just… sighed and shook her head.

“How are you feeling?” Doctor Heartsigil asked.

“About as good as I can, given the circumstances...” Val groaned.

“Well… How much of that discussion did you hear?” Ikarian asked.

“Most of it. I woke up when I started falling down a fucking cliff, or whatever the hell that bullshit was back there. And then I tried to go back to not being awake but the Purple Goat Woman kept jumping up and down like some kind of spastic frog, so…”

Griselda turned around, trying to stifle a laugh. “That’s the thanks I get for lugging your behind all the way down here?” She said, looking at nothing in particular off in the distance.

“Yup.” Val said. “Agh. This water is like… straight crack, and even still, everything hurts like hell. So if this… magic crystal y’all keep talking about is really like you say it is, I’ll gladly go swim that motherfucker down, I don’t care how long I have to hold my breath. And hey, even if I don’t make it, then, pain over, right?”

The group hesitated to agree with her, and she cleared her throat and said, “Look, I’m fucked either way. Either I stay here in this nice little pond and best case scenario, I can barely take care of myself, let alone get back home, or I actually try and make it to the stone. Worst case, I die. Big deal, happens to people all the time. Best case, I get magically healed or whatever, and I have a fighting chance.”

“Well… give us some more time to think, okay? We may come up with a better plan yet.” Doctor Ikarian said, choosing to pretend they didn’t just hear some of the things she’d said.

“Yeah, I’m sure we can come up with something that would be less risky.” Doctor Heartsigil said, exchanging looks with Doctor Ikarian.

“...Okay. I’ll give y’all a few hours, and then I’m taking the dive.” Val said.

“How are you going to get there without knowing where it is?” Doctor Ikarian asked, quirking a brow up at her.

“Good question, lizard guy.” Val shrugged, immediately wincing in regret.

“Well, that didn’t do you any favors in convincing me to tell you where it’s at. And I’m not telling you until I’m sure you can make it there,” Doctor Ikarian said, “_Safely._” they added for emphasis.

“Alright.” Val said, deciding it better to give in for the time being.

From the shore of the spring on a pebbly patch amidst the tall green grass and reeds, Reylina, Minnius, Brekkan, and Otis sat, (now conscious again but just barely, and none too happy about it) watching the other half of the group.

The group standing chest deep in the cold water of the large spring began wading back to shore, pulling Val behind them till she was close enough that she could get up and on dry land quickly if she needed to, but still submerged enough for the water to work on her wounds.

The doctors began working on the gash on Otis’ head, daubing water into it and the scrapes on his cheek.

“There doesn’t seem to be any skull fracture or anything else like that, but you seem pretty concussed to me.” Doctor Ikarian said, looking over the wound.

“Blmbnmbmlemblab,” Otis replied, spitting out something nasty on the ground. Reylina’s eyes grew in horror and morbid curiosity, trying to figure out what the mysterious substance that came out of his mouth was.

“Yeah, he’s concussed alright; Concussed into the next dimension of brain trauma,” Doctor Heartsigil said, “you know, I think at this rate he’s doing worse for wear than Val right now. At least she can say words without… eugh, what _is_ that?” she asked, interrupting herself as she saw the dark stuff he had spit.

“I blink its thud.” Otis said, bleary eyed and licking at something inside his mouth.

Brekkan stared at him with concern.

“You… blood?” Ikarian puzzled together, pausing to look at him for a second.

“Mhm,” he said gravely, nodding, “And tubes.”

“Tubes.” Ikarian repeated, completely lost now.

“Yup.” Otis said, very certain.

“Oh no.” Doctor Heartsigil said, letting her face fall into her palm just before Otis started spitting tooth after tooth onto the ground.

“Oh no indeed.” Doctor Ikarian said, face souring as they turned their attention towards this new problem. “Must have knocked some teeth loose when he hit that stone.” they muttered.

Griselda blinked and turned away from the scene, deciding she wanted no part of whatever that Scrumpy Guy was doing right now.

“How are you doing?” Val asked.

“How- I- uh, actually I was about to ask _you_ that.” Griselda said, a little taken aback.

“Well, everyone seems to have been focusing on me and… Toothless over there.” Val said, grimacing at the sight of the Guardsman. “Figured someone had to ask about your hairy ass. Which, by the way, is dripping wet. And smells.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate that. Means a lot to me.” the woman said, rolling her eyes, and mentally making note of her own sarcasm. Kind of unusual for her.

“But you’re lookin’ better than the last time I saw you. So there’s that.” Val said, adjusting her shoulders slowly in the water.

“Yeah, and I could almost say the same for you. So how are you doing?” Griselda asked.

“You answer me first.” Val replied, not missing the obvious attempt to deflect.

“I’m alright. I can breathe without coughing up blood.” she said matter-of-factly.

“You don’t seem as… angry.”

Griselda just looked at her.

“And actually, you carried me down here. So...” Val prodded.

“Are you trying to make me angry?” Griselda asked, not-so-subtly hinting that this was not where she wanted this conversation to go. Or any conversation, for that matter.

“...No. Just thought maybe we could address the… giant flaming trash pile between us, y’know, like adults, or something.”

“Start acting like an adult and I might start considering that.” Griselda said with a huff, turning her gaze towards the sun rising over the cliffs.

Val sat silent for moment. “You know, for all of it, you’ve got a petty streak.” she said nonchalantly. After that, she decided to leave the rest alone, despite all the other very valid things she could say about it.

The silence stretched, and became uncomfortable, even for Griselda, who decided to ignore that last comment.

“So, what are you gonna do if they don’t come up with something?” She asked, trying to keep the quiet from letting her think too much.

“I’m gonna go for a swim. Find the magic crystal, let it do its thing, come back.”

“What if the doctor doesn’t want to tell you where it’s at?”

“Then… I’ll have to find it for myself. But I don’t think I’ll have to go that far. He’s the one who brought it up in the first place and wanted to get me to it.” Val said.

“They.” Griselda corrected.

“They…?” Val asked, lost.

“Doctor Ikarian, the one you called lizardguy, the Reptalinian, they’re a they.” Griselda said, earning another confused look. “You know what pronouns are, right?”

“Yes I know what pronouns are.” Val said defensively.

“Then use them right. They, their, them.”

“They, their, them. Got it.” Val said, absorbing the new information. “Free country, huh.” she added with a nod. Then she asked, “Are all Reptalinians they, their, them?”

“No. They have pretty much the same amount of trans, nonbinary, and genderfluid folks as the rest of the other species.”

Val just nodded quietly.

“Why the silence?” Griselda asked, noticing it and getting uncomfortable again.

“Uh… I don’t know? I just… I don’t know much about all that. Nobody talks about it where I’m from, except to shit on those people.”

“Wow. Sounds like a great place to go back to.” Griselda said with a derisive laugh.

“...Yeah. Real great.” Val said with a frown. “Look, I need to start warming up if I’m gonna try to get to this crystal, the runestone.” she said, getting up slowly on her elbows.

“Okay.” Griselda said, waiting, unsure if Val had more to say.

She watched as Val glanced at her and then started gently, gingerly moving her arms. She put them down on her lap and looked down at herself. The bites and claw marks gouged into her were already beginning to knit, and the bones, while sore and still fragile, were knitting too, having already been reset by Doctors Heartsigil and Ikarian in their healing pool. But everything, for how dull it was compared to what it could be, still hurt and stabbed and burned, flaring every time she moved.

_Injuries like this back on Earth…_ Val shuttered at the thought. Modern medicine saved people, sometimes. Even then… the long term effects stayed with people for the rest of their lives. And if she had a chance for something better?

_Then I’m going to fucking take it._

She realized she’d closed her eyes at some point, and opened them, letting go of a breath she’d been holding, inhaling again and then pushing forward onto her knees, standing up, and taking step after step into the spring.

She had to take it slowly at first. Really slowly. She hated it. She wanted to pretend that even though it hurt, it didn’t mean anything, that she wasn’t actually hurt that bad, that she could push past it. It was that gung ho attitude that had nearly gotten her killed in the past, more than once, and had pushed her to do things that, looking back, had never even been worth it. And she had seen others go even further than she had, and pay for it. Dearly.

So she bit the bullet, swallowed it with a shot of pride, and took it slow.

_Slow and steady wins the race, right?_ she thought wryly.

And eventually, after a while, she could move a easier, a lot easier. It was like… physical therapy on steroids, in a way. The looks on the doctor’s faces told her exactly what they thought of it, but so far, so good. She had been taking it slow, but she knew she still had to push a little bit. She just had to strike the right balance of pushing herself, but not crossing the line and pushing herself too far.

Right now though, she had been swimming for a while. She needed to take a break.

_The whole, “not crossing the line” part,_ she thought.

She swam ashore, and was greeted by the doctors, who immediately started talking about how she needed to take it slow, and she made a point of pointing out the fact that she wasn’t going too far. They still weren’t too happy about it, but she changed the subject.

“Well if you don’t want me to swim to the runestone, then have you thought of another way for me to get there without drowning first? Pretty sure no matter how powerful the runestone is, it can’t bring someone back from the dead.” she joked, and the doctors chuckled, but hadn’t come up with anything yet.

“We thought maybe trying to use a mega lily to trap some air for you but there’s a whole bunch of problems with that.” Doctor Ikarian said.

“And we thought about using runedust, but none of us know any aquatic spells, like the ones used a lot in Salineas.” Doctor Heartsigil said.

“So it looks like my only option is diving down to this runestone.” Val said, knowing how that was going to make them feel.

“Yes.” Doctor Ikarian said, with a sigh. “I just... I don’t like the idea. But it feels like my back is against the wall as a doctor. The best possible treatment for you is also the biggest risk you could take.”

“It’s one I want to take.”

They nodded at that.

“Well, I guess it’s as decided as it’s going to get.” Doctor Heartsigil sighed. “So, now we’re going to go to this secret location?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t just send her off alone. We need to be there for her as much as we can. In fact, I’ll dive with her, but I don’t think I’m as strong a swimmer as I used to be. It’s… been a while.” they admitted.

“Don’t worry about it, Doc. I got her.” said a gruff voice from behind.

“Griselda?” Doctor Heartsigil asked in surprise, glancing at her, and Minnius who had come up to their conversation with her.

“I’ll swim with her. I’m the strongest one here at the moment, and… I agree with what Doctor Ikarian said.”

“So now we’re boy scouts using the buddy system, huh?” Val said, jokingly.

The joke fell about as flat as pancake, drawing confused looks from everyone.

“It was a- y’know what, never mind.” she said, cutting her losses.

“Anyway, you know she’s just going to try and drown me once we go, right?” Val said unseriously.

“If I wasn’t going to before, I sure am now.” Griselda said.

“She better not, or I’ll make sure she never gets a cup of tea from _my_ kettle again.” Minnius said, getting a chuckle from everyone.

“So, the best spot to start from is a cave down past the bend. The cave turns into a tunnel which leads underground, back towards this area, I believe, just, several hundred feet below.” They turned to look at the position of the sun in the sky, still morning, but nearing noon. “The walk to the diving spot will take some time, likely a few hours, and its important to take care in the tunnels. You won’t get lost, but they’re _very_ slick, so its easy to slip and fall. I’ve landed on my tail more than once in there when I got caught up in the beauty of the place. Which, by the way, it is stunning. You think this place is pretty? Just wait till you see the caves.” Doctor Ikarian said, voice fluctuating with excitement.

“Okay, and once we get to the dive spot?” Val said.

“Yes, we won’t need spells or torches or anything there, because the glow from the runestone and the smaller crystal growths in the cavern actually provide enough luminescence to see perfectly well. The water is clear as day, if cold. You’ll see the underwater archway you’ll have to dive under, the entrance to the runestone cavern, and that was what nearly killed me. It’s an illusion of the water, it does something with light, you all know the old drinking straw in the glass of water trick, yes? Water warps light, and in there, the effect is… breathtaking.”

“Was that a pun, Doctor Ikarian?” Doctor Heartsigil asked, blinking in shock. It was rare to see them in such a good mood that they made puns.

_Which is a good thing. Their puns were horrible._

“Yes, it was, Doctor Heartsigil,” they said, beaming with a sharp, toothy smile and gleaming eyes, “Anyway, you’ll understand when you get there. Once you get through the archway, come up for air, sit on one of the ledges, or better yet, the little shore on the right side of the cavern. There’s a decent air pocket in there, perfectly breathable, so take a break. I’m sure you’ll know how long you need to take to recover once you get a feel for the scale of the place.” they said.

“Okay,” Doctor Heartsigil said, “and basically, she just needs to get close enough to it to absorb enough magical energy to heal. How long do you think that should take?”

“Well, the power there compared to here is… orders of magnitude greater. The closer she gets, the faster the healing will happen, and the longer she stays there, the more complete it will be. Which is probably the biggest problem. Again, air. How long can she swim for, how long can she hold her breath for, you know. That’s what will determine that.” Doctor Ikarian said, turning to Val, “All I can really say for sure is that you should… be careful. Don’t let yourself drown. Kind of defeats the purpose.” they said with a wry grin.

“Got it. Don’t kill myself trying to save myself.”

“In the meanwhile, we should probably set up a campfire and cook some food, and have it ready by the time she gets back, yes?” Minnius said. He was quickly becoming Val’s favorite person ever, since he always seemed to have his priorities in order.

“That would be great, if we had food.” Griselda said dourly. She looked hungry. And tired.

“What do you think is in my pack, Grizzy?” Minnius said, scandalized. “I packed all the goodies I could grab, and I’m sure there’s some decent wild berries and veggies to be found around here- in fact I noticed some on the way in.” he said, remembering some he saw on the trail as they hiked.

“So,” Doctor Heartsigil said with a clap of her hands, “We’ll get to the cave, where Minnius and them will set up camp, while you,” she said, nodding at Doctor Ikarian, “I, and those two,” gesturing to Val and Griselda, “will carefully navigate the tunnels till we get to the dive spot. There, those two will pass through the underwater archway, take a break on the shore, and then she’ll dive for the runestone. Then, we all go back, eat dinner around the campfire, and then head back to town under the cover of night.”

Val bit her lip for a second, a giant grin spreading across her face. She looked around, catching everyone’s eyes, then took a big breath and said, “_Goddamn,_ I love it when a plan comes together.”


	13. Chapter 13

Val was really peeved that nobody understood that reference. She guessed that was the price she had to pay for traveling between dimensions, finding out magic exists, and generally being the most badass, awesomest motherfucker around.

_Oh well._

“Yeah, nevermind what I just said, let’s just get the others and get going.” she said, everyone nodding and moving towards the other half of the group sunning on the shore.

“We’ve got a plan together, everyone,” Minnius said, waking up Reylina, Brekkan, and Otis as he filled them in on the details while the doctors began dipping canteens in the spring and taking fresh bandage wraps from their packs and soaking them in the water for the trip to the dive spot.

Val decided to rest in the water for a bit while the others got ready to go again. It had been the first moment she had both felt okay enough and relaxed enough to let herself try to enjoy it. The calm lapping of the water, the tall green grass, the occasional warble of birdsong, the warm sun rising high in the sky above the cliffs over the ravine and shining through the clear waterfalls tumbling down around them. She listened to the gentle rustle in the air as the breeze brushed through the hanging leaves and branches of the willow trees, dipping low and kissing the surface of the water.

She breathed. The pain was still as present as ever but the world, the vision before her, the sounds around her, all took some of it away. Soothed. Eased. C-

“Hey, you ready to go?” Griselda asked, tapping her upside the head with her boot.

_Goddammit, Griz._

“Yeah. I was waiting on you.” Val said, getting up. “Thanks for kicking me in the face, by the way.” she said with a hint of humor in her voice.

Griselda began to protest, saying, “I didn’t ki-”

“Here, I want to change your wraps.” Doctor Heartsigil said, walking up next to them, springwater-soaked bandages in hand.

“Okay,” Val said, attention turned towards the doctor already. Griselda just rolled her eyes, and a little bit peeved at how quickly her attention turned away.

“Turn around so I can unfasten these.” the doctor said with her cool, even voice.

It was about then Griselda realized that she was just standing there while Doctor Heartsigil took the wraps off of Val, and she fidgeted, wondering if she should leave or if the doctor wanted her to help or-

“Would you hold these for me please?” She said, handing the new bandages out for Griselda to take as she pinched the loosened knot between her fingers.

_Well that answers that, at least_ Griselda thought, taking them from the doctor while she focused her attention on carefully removing the old wraps. Griselda watched as Doctor Heartsigil gently spun Val around and unwove the fabric from under her arms and over her shoulders, around and around.

For some reason it made Griselda think of a dance, and she stared at Val as she turned slowly, watching as one of Doctor Heartsigil’s hands prodded her to keep turning while the other loosely spooled the blood-sodden gauze around her hand and wrist. Griselda got lost in the steady movement and drifted for a second as an inexplicable jealousy reached up and tugged her heart from down low. She frowned unconsciously and missed the questioning look on Val’s face as she noticed it, just before turning away from her.

Griselda’s trance was broken by Doctor Heartsigil taking the last of the bandage off as Val’s turn came to a stop facing Griselda, and the doctor headed for the water to wash her hands.

Griselda looked down and it dawned on her that the wrap was completely off of Val now and she couldn’t stop herself from taking in the new sight, eyes darting up and down rapidly, from the new wounds, to the old scars, and all the different bruises in between, and Griselda realized she was still looking-

She looked away quickly, equally as embarrassed by her own staring as she was interested and curious to see more of Val. She hadn’t seen whether or not Val noticed her looking, and she turned her eyes back towards the woman to risk a second glance.

She seemed to be in thought about something, looking out towards the pond. The longer Griselda held her gaze, the longer Val went without blinking, and as the more the contemplative frown grew on the woman’s face, the more Griselda trusted the notion that she had gotten lost in thought and tuned out the world.

She found her gaze pulled downward, from Val’s eyes, to the bridge of her nose, to the out-turn of her upper lip and the jut of her chin, and back along her knife-edge jawline. By the line drawn between warm afternoon light and cool shadow down the length of her neck, to her collarbone and the glaring red gashes interrupting the line of her shoulder, dragging down across her breast and ending abruptly above the dip where rib ended and hard-muscled abdomen began. The fat, pink scar she hadn’t noticed earlier, an old wound, begged her attention downwards further, to ponder the history that this body has experienced - the battles, the trials, the mistakes, and the lessons learned from all of them – the life this woman has lived.

She had begun to let her eyes follow the trail of hair that lead down from peach fuzz around her belly button to the tops of the thick curls just poking above the waistband of her underwear, when she realized how far she’d wandered and began to pull herself back up. Her eyes lifted hesitantly back up towards Val – who met her rising gaze, and darted away just as quickly as she did when their eyes made contact.

Something happened in her chest, a lightness, like a warm draft of air rising high, or a rush like a hot geyser of water and steam. Something about not just seeing, but being seen, and not just being seen but… Griselda breathed in deep, closed her eyes and let it out as Doctor Heartsigil sauntered back over, her arms dripping water, but clean again, another soaked cloth in her hands. Griselda tried to focus on what she was doing now.

“Here, let me rinse the injuries right quick,” she said, squeezing the cloth above the shoulder and watching as it flushed some more fluid away. She daubed gingerly in a couple areas on Val’s back and then handed the cloth over to her to get what she could on the front while the doctor took the bandages out of Griselda’s hands and began preparing the new wrap.

Once she began, the work was quick and the wrap was done, Val only needing to hold the first end for a moment before it disappeared under Doctor Heartsigil’s handiwork, and soon she was all bandaged up again.

“Well, we’re done here, and it looks like they’re almost ready to go over there. Shall we?” Doctor Heartsigil asked, walking back towards the others closer to the bottom of the steps.

The group finished pulling together what gear they had and slung their packs on, turning to Doctor Ikarian to lead them to the cave entrance. Off they went, through the tall grass and reeds and down a little slope that followed the first short waterfall, and after that, a long trail that was almost invisible from how long it had been since it had been used. They followed it along the left bank of the river and down the ravine till it disappeared out of sight behind a bend.

The hike took enough time that the sun was now beginning to dip behind their backs, their shadows growing longer in front of them. It was at another fall where a natural buildup of driftwood had grown on the larger rocks, forming a dam, almost, and the water had filled out the surrounding banks into a pond, a reservoir a little smaller than the one they’d left a few hours before.

“We’ll cross here and keep going until we reach the cave.” Doctor Ikarian announced, and the group followed.

Soon they found the cave in an area carved out of the cliff face by water over years and years, and set their packs down on the beach around the area where the spring river eddied out on this bank and into the cave.

Val watched as the group that was staying behind began building a small fire ring from the larger stones on the shore, while Minnius inspected the bushes nearby for berries and other wild foods. Doctor Heartsigil caught her attention with a nod of the head, and she followed behind her and Doctor Ikarian, still leading the way. Griselda brought up the rear, returning a little wave from Minnius who said, “See you soon!”

“See you.” she said, and dipped into the cave.

It was wide enough for them to walk next to the small stream easily enough, and the ceiling was high enough that they didn’t have to hunch down to avoid hitting their heads.

Val could immediately see why Doctor Ikarian liked the place. The stalagmites and stalactites were a little small here near the entrance but with every passing minute they were getting larger as the tunnel got even taller.

They rounded a bend, and the sunlight disappeared behind them, walls now illuminated solely by the gentle glow of the magical spring water. It got noticeably cooler, too, and soon the water began running faster ahead of them, carving through the rock face. After an hour or so, they had come down several stair-like falls inside the tunnels and passed through some caverns, ranging from odd shaped pockets and crevices in the walls that you could sit in or crawl into just a little bit, to big, deep amphitheaters with solid pillars of calcium that looked like ice cream that had been refrozen mid-melt, seemingly holding up the ceiling. The team carefully worked its way down, one behind the other, on a small, barely passable trail winding between the _dripstones_, as Doctor Ikarian called the pillars, following the stream. They turned and hopped up to a small ledge near the center of the amphitheater and bellowed, “_HELLO!_” as loudly as they could, and instantly a deep echo yelled back, returning from farther and farther away until it disippated into silence punctuated by dripping.

Doctor Ikarian turned to look and saw the group’s faces, alight with wonder. “You think they heard it back at camp?” They asked the group.

“Maybe. I guess we’ll find out here in a second,” Doctor Heartsigil said, turning an ear toward the way out, listening for any response.

A couple seconds passed, but nothing.

“Oh well, let’s keep moving.” Doctor Ikarian said, stepping back down onto the trail and heading in deeper.

They passed back into a narrower tunnel at the bottom of the amphitheater-like cavern, and kept going until a few minutes later, they rounded a little bend and found themselves in yet another cavern, but this was where the trail ended, literally, at a stone bank that dropped off into a sudden abyss of blue.

“Here we are. The diving spot.” Doctor Ikarian said, sitting on their haunches and dipping a hand into the water. “You can just barely make it out; there, see the archway?” They pointed down.

“I see it,” Val said, entranced in the ghostly outline down below. “I didn’t realize it would be so far away that you can’t almost see it...” she said, trailing off.

“It’s not quite _that_ far, it’s an effect of the glow, kind of bounces a lot of light off any particulates in the water, creating this hazy look till you can’t see anymore. I assume with no disturbances for some time, the water would become _beyond_ extremely clear and I bet one could see straight down to the bottom, but there’s a bit of a current from the river, which continuously deposits silt down here too. But it’s still some of the clearest water I’ve seen anywhere.”

“You seem to know a lot about this place.” Doctor Heartsigil said, staring into the water as Val and Griselda got ready to swim.

“I haven’t made many trips down here, but the ones I have, I’ve usually spent several days to a couple weeks, just... Studying. There’s a lot to learn.” Doctor Ikarian said, almost reverently, their eyes and hands tracing a path along the wall, wiping up some silt and water. 

Val said, “Should probably take off our clothes since they’ll just weigh us down,” to which Griselda nodded, saying, “My leg fur will be weighing me down a lot already, so, yeah.”

Doctor Heartsigil noticed the two carefully stealing a few glances at each other as they took off their clothes, setting them down on the bank. She wasn’t too surprised at Val, young and hot blooded, but she felt a grin taking over her face when she saw Griselda sneak in a double-take of her own as Val turned around to set her outlander’s pants down on the stone bank. It had been a while since their stonemason and blacksmith had even looked someone else’s way.

“Alright, we’re ready.” Griselda said as a slight flush colored her face, and with a nod from Val, both stripped down to nothing except for Val in her bandages, and the doctors watched as they stood on the edge of the stone bank, toes dipping into the water.

“Be careful, and come back if anything happens that isn’t supposed to.” Doctor Heartsigil said.

“We got it, don’t drown, don’t get eaten by monsters, don’t do stupid stuff. Just tag the runestone and get back.” Val said confidently.

“Good way of putting it.” Doctor Ikarian said.

“See you soon,” Griselda said, then looked at Val, who paused to look at Doctor Ikarian.

“Wait, there aren’t monsters, are there?” she asked, smiling but not sure how much she was actually joking.

“As far as I know, there aren’t any. Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover a new species while you’re down there.” they said with a bastard smirk.

“Don’t say shit like that,” Val said, mock warning. “Alright, let’s go, on my mark.” she said.

“Ah- Val, Griselda, one last thing,” Doctor Ikarian said, seeming to remember something and putting a finger in the air to hold them a last second, saying, “You may feel… excited, or almost high in there, the closer you get to the stone. Its energy is… powerful, as I’ve said. I don’t know what the effects of longterm of exposure to the energy could be, but just fair warning; If you feel light headed or really _happy?_ You might just want to sit down for a little bit out of the water.”

They nodded at this last bit of information, then Val took several quick, deep breaths, then counted down, “Three, two, one, mark!” and dove in, Griselda right beside her.

They swam deep into the cold, blue water, and for a second, Val had a weird notion of feeling like a pirate, or a treasure hunter, looking for some unimaginably valuable gem sunken to the bottom of an ocean. She glanced over at Griselda, who was swimming pretty well for someone who lived in a landlocked and heavily forested hill country. It was those arms and shoulders, earned over decades of bending metal and earth to her will. Val kept swimming down, and began to realize just how large the archway was, looking almost up at it now. It looked like a cruise ship could sail comfortably underneath this thing if it was above water. They still hadn’t passed under it, and her lungs were starting to let her know this was not going to be a very long trip if she didn’t get some air soon. She figured she had another… twenty or thirty seconds or so.

_Should be fine. But my shoulder’s starting to kill me._ she thought, as the motion worked the wounds open again. She looked and saw the trail of blood she was leaving in the water, and turned around, kept swimming. Now they were swimming almost level with the top of the arch, and as they reached it, Val’s lungs burning, she saw it.

From under the uppermost edge of the archway came a bright light, diffuse, but brilliant, dead center at the bottom of the cavern they were about to swim into. Val and Griselda looked at each other, pointing and nodding, then swam harder.

Val pushed aside the edge of the pain, gritting her teeth as carbon dioxide bubbles escaped her mouth and finally, finally, the other edge of the archway came into view, and up they swam. Val couldn’t see where the water met the air above like she could in a pool or a lake, it was all just… washed out in blue. And the black around the edges.

_Oh no. Come on, come on, you got it! You’re right there!_ she mentally yelled. Her lungs were practically screaming now, and she pushed as hard as she could through the water, rising, rising, but arms feeling like lead weights as she swam, the pain searing her chest and shoulder, and she wasn’t entirely sure what was oxygen deprivation and what was her wounds reopening again. She really had dived too deep… pushed too far this time.

_Fuck that! COME ON!_ she thought, wanting to scream but not having anything left to even push out of her lungs. She could feel the urge to breathe in growing stronger. To suck in, to fill her lungs with air, it was primal, but she couldn’t, not now, _just a few more seconds!_ she thought, trying to fight through the blackening of her vision.

She was losing. Losing sight, losing control, her arms and legs jerking up and down, the rhythm of her strokes and kicks gone, and as the nauseating feeling of blacking out took her, she felt her strength give way, her lungs suck in, the rush of water, of so much more than just water but of fear, despair, and sinking hope-

And she couldn’t tell how long it had been, but now she saw something. Someone, bent over someone else. Like she was high above them.

_Oh, this is… me. That’s me right there._

On the ground. Unconscious, next to a lake of blue light. Griselda knelt atop of her, shaking her, pounding her chest. Reopening wounds and making them worse. Trying to do anything to wake her up.

Val felt tired. An exhaustion so bone deep, unlike any other time in her life. She felt as though…

_This could be it. If I want._

Something about Griselda, this woman and the way she held her, a palm under the back of her head, and a palm on her heart, something made her not want it. Yet, at least. She was fighting. Trying. Val figured she owed her at least the same effort.

_I pushed myself this far. Now I gotta push even harder._

The sensation of being turned inside out was the best way to describe what happened next, and Val found herself heaving up her lungs, coughing and coughing and coughing, choking, gasping, and coughing some more.

_Fuck me, this sucks..._ she thought as she hacked up lungful of water after lungful of water, and still there was more-

A hard slam on her back damn near knocked her back out again but suddenly she could breathe, eyes red and puffy from the force of coughing so much, tears mingling with water droplets that ran down her nose and off her chin.

“Damn it Val,” Griselda sighed, letting herself ease back into a resting position on her side as her eyes drifted to the cavern wall, “I thought that was it.”

“And you still kept hitting me after you thought I was dead?” Val muttered, barely enough energy in her to joke.

“I was angry.” Griselda said, no humor in her voice.

They let each other catch their breaths for a few minutes. Just sat there on the wide stone bank that gently sloped up into a wall that curved into the ceiling, high above, where in the center, massive dripstone pillars went all the way down into the water. Between them shone the source of the glowing light and all the magical energy of this place. The runestone.

“Thank you.” Val said, “For pulling me out. And sorry, for making you.”

“Yeah, well. What was I supposed to do, huh, let all our work to get you here go to nothing?” She said, a little humor in her eyes this time, but only a little. “I think this makes us even. You got me off the mountain, and I got you out of this.”

“And you got me into the spring earlier, when everyone decided to take a shortcut down the fucking stairs,” Val grinned, saying, “but maybe that doesn’t count since you shook me like a fuckin’ juice carton all the way down.”

“Hey, if that doesn’t count, then neither does you saving me from the lion, since you lost my damn horse.”

“Oh, uh-uh, I didn’t lose your horse, that motherfucker took off at the first sign of trouble.” Val said, raising her hands in a way that said, _Not my fault._ “Yeah, whatever. We’re even, for now.” Val said with a nod. She was just getting her breath back, and her shoulder felt like… like it was not that bad. When she wasn’t moving it, it seemed to feel fine, and apparently, being this close to the runestone was doing some good for her.

“Well, it looks like there’s enough space on those shelves on the dripstones to rest on, if you can swim to them.” Griselda said, looking out toward the six or seven pillars of calcium climbing up to the ceiling. The shelves she was talking about appeared to jut out a few feet here and there, especially around the surface of the water.

“Well, we made it this far. Barely. But I feel good, for having nearly drowned. I think I could make it if I keep my head above water.” Val said.

“Alright. Whenever you’re ready.” Griselda said, looking down into the water, swishing her legs in it. She didn’t know what had gotten into her. Maybe it was the magic, but she felt a giddiness inside her. Even Val, who had just nearly died again, seemed in a good mood, walking back toward the wall to get a running jump for a dive.

“Last one to those columns is an old lady!” Val yelled, disappearing into the water with a flying leap that shouldn’t have been possible for everything she’d been through so far.

“An old-? Oh, I’ll show _you_ an old lady!” Griselda growled as she dove in and began swimming after the pain-in-the-ass who was already surging through the water way up ahead of her, determined to get to the pillars first.

Griselda smirked as she found passing the woman easy, but her victorious grin slid away as Val started flagging in the lake a little bit, close to the columns of dripstone.

“You alright?” Griselda asked, slowing down to a stop as she started to doggy paddle.

Val took a gasp and went under, and Griselda’s eyes went wide, then she said, “Son of a-!” and started swimming as fast as she could, realizing she’d been duped as the woman sped through the water ahead of her again.

They were almost to the pillars when Griselda realized how fast she was swimming. She’d hit a stride she hadn’t ever known she could hit, and she had to launch her legs ahead of her to stop fast as she hit the pillar shelf.

“Holy… She-Ra above...” Griselda gasped, feeling an energy flowing through her like nothing ever before.

“Holy shit, this is fuckin’ amazing!” Val shouted in glee as she hopped up and down on the balls of her toes right next to her on the shelf. “This must have been what Doctor Ikarian was talking about,” she said between breaths, settling down a little bit and looking down at the brilliant glow below them, completely illuminating the cavern floor and sending stark shadows up across Val’s form from below. Griselda pulled herself up onto the shelf right next to her, and she wasn’t sure if it was the briskness of the air on her naked skin or the water or the woman next to her but she couldn’t keep from smiling, from chuckling, from letting out a full-bellied laughter that had her bending double almost as soon as she stood up.

Val fell on her ass laughing too.

“What are _you_ laughing at?” she barely managed to get out.

“I have no idea, I just feel good,” Griselda said after the good minute or two it took to calm down.

“That was crazy.” Val said, hands around her knees.

Griselda looked at the silt that had collected on her from where she’d pulled her self up, a kind of muddy grit that smeared all over, and she started giggling again.

“Oh no, no, it’s been like _five seconds!_” Val gasped, laughing again and clutching her sore abs.

“I’m sorry, you’re just… covered in mud! How did you even get that much friggin’ mud on you?” Griselda said, giggling with her head in her hands, looking at Val between her fingers.

“Oh god you’ve got it on you too, and it’s smeared all over your hairy-ass legs!” Val pointed out, cackling.

“I’ll smear it on _you_ if you don’t shut up and stop.” Griselda said, looking up and away at the ceiling, wiping some water from her eyes, or maybe tears, she wasn’t sure.

“God...” Val sighed. “That felt good. Really good.” She went to get up, grabbing Griselda’s broad shoulder for support, and something in that shoulder went _Pop!_ and they both gasped, Val in surprise and fear of what she’d done, and Griselda in shock and a weird mix of pain and pleasure as something that had been out of place for years just went back into place.

Griselda was in open-mouthed relief and then, there they both were again, laughing their asses off next to each other because -

“Holy shit, that was so loud! Are you alright?”

“First Ones above, I- I’m- my arm is- yeah, I’m fine...” Griselda trailed off, breathing deep and sighing.

Val looked down at Griselda, the mirth she felt in her face reflected in Griselda’s, and they stayed there a moment just looking at each other until something became too intense for either of them and they broke down into laughter again.

It took them a few minutes to compose themselves again, and Griselda finally said, “Come on, let’s get down to that stone and get out of here before we both die of laughter.”

“I dunno, not such a bad way to go, considering all the other ways we’ve already almost died.” Val said with a shrug, then, sighing, “Alright, yeah, let’s go.”

Griselda nodded and stood up, watching the woman’s shoulders as she rolled them, her gaze following the curve of her back down past the bandages and a scar she’d never noticed before, a small circle on her right hip the size of a fingerprint. She watched as Val put her arms up over her head and dove into the brilliance below.

Griselda found herself leaping after her with a strange ease and carefree-ness that felt odd, the moment she’d had to pull Val out of the water running through her mind again.

But obviously here, closer to the source of the magic than anyone else had ever gotten, Val had stopped bleeding, no trail in the water behind her as Griselda followed, no limp in her motions anymore, just laughter and joy and diving deep. Griselda saw spokes of light shining around Val’s silhouette, and she felt a perspective shift.

To Val, there was a feeling of freedom from jumping head first back into something that would just as soon kill her as save her, a challenge, a test. A tension, as contradictory as it seemed to freedom, and it almost felt physical, like she was being pulled towards the runestone, like swimming through the water was an afterthought as she dove.

She couldn’t see anything except the glow around her now, almost no sensation of being. Like one of those sensory deprivation baths she had heard about, just, going forward, or rising, like she was weightless. She glanced behind her, and the only thing she could make out in the light was Griselda, right there, eyes wide open and flying with her.

And Griselda felt that too as Val looked back at her, the flight, like something out of one of her dreams when she was a kid… like leaping off a mountain and falling into the sky, or walking across it without ever moving her legs, but deeper, like the flight was taking place in her chest.

Val looked forward again and there it was. Out of the brilliance, the crystal, a big, sharp edged stone that grew from the base foundation where other smaller crystals grew around it, a beacon of warmth, of pure power and awesome strength and quiet stability that made her feel wonder.

She reached out, to her side, as she slowed in front of it, and Griselda came to a float next to her, reaching out for her hand. Their palms clasped, thumbs twined together, and they shared a look in the light, then embraced the runestone.

The last thing they saw as they touched the crystal was a flash of radiant light.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wow a lot happened in this chapter whoops

Val and Griselda came rocketing out of the water in the middle of the pillars, hand in hand, fingers clasped tight between each other’s.

They gasped for air, looking at each other with a mix of bewilderment, amazement, and disbelief – in short, shock.

They broke away and swam for the shelf on the closest dripstone pillar, collapsing on top of it and laying on their backs even though they had the most energy they’d had in years.

“Oh my god- I need-” Val gasped out.

“-just give me a minute-” Griselda said, spitting some water out of her mouth onto the shelf as she rolled over onto her side and propped up her head in her hands.

They lay there in silence, breathing heavily, trying to process what had happened.

A long time passed as they contemplated.

“Griselda, you alright?” Val finally asked.

“I’m not sure. That was… that was a lot for you too, right?” she replied.

“That was… so much. Do you think we could even explain if we tried?” She wondered aloud.

“I don’t know how I would even start...” Griselda said.

Val leaned forward, pulling her knees up to her bare chest. “Oh.” she said simply, looking down, realizing that her bandages had disappeared, along with her wounds. “Look, Griz...” she said in wonder as she sat back against the pillar, taking in herself like she was seeing her body for the first time.

Griselda looked up.

“First Ones… what happened to your… your- you haven’t even got any- wait yes, your scars are there but, you can barely even see them...”

“Yeah.” Val said, not really knowing what else to say. “I guess we did what we originally came here to do too, but it feels...”

“Kind of like an afterthought?” Griselda finished.

“Yeah. God, it feels like waking up from years of dreaming.” Val said.

“Like waking up from another life.” Griselda said.

“And I’m… I can already barely remember it, just a few bits here and there.” Val said, her eyes darting left and right, unfocused, like she was reading an invisible book.

_Your eyes…_ Griselda thought. “She-Ra above, your eyes!” she gasped.

“What about-” Val asked, turning to look at Griselda, and distantly feeling her jaw go slack as she saw what she was sure Griselda was seeing. “Your irises are glowing blue. Like the water, like the runestone.” Val said, leaning over on one hand and reaching for Griselda’s face, her fingers gently grasping her jaw, her thumb brushing her ear, her pinky under her chin as she looked into Griselda’s glowing gaze.

“Mine too?” Griselda asked, holding her gaze, looking back and forth between Val’s eyes, trying to discern any difference between the blue glow of her irises. They… well, she hadn’t looked into Val’s eyes too much before. She couldn’t remember what color they’d been.

“What were they, before?” Griselda asked.

“What?” Val asked, barely registering the question.

“What color were your eyes before?” She asked again.

“Oh. Green. Greenish brown? Kinda looked like dirt or moss or something.” Val said, finally pulling her hand away as Griselda broke eye contact and looked down at Val’s scars where her still-healing wounds had been minutes before they’d dove for the runestone.

She followed the faint claw scratches and bite marks down, further.

“What color were yours?” Val, asked gulping.

“…uh… grey. Almost blue, but not quite. Stony, as Minny would say.” Griselda muttered, reaching out a hand, brushing a finger against Val’s arm. “You’re bigger.” she realized aloud.

“Yeah,” Val laughed out, “I noticed that.” she said, holding her arms out. “I feel like a teen who’s just hit Superman’s equivalent of puberty,” she said, Griselda nodding in agreement, “I had to sit down, everything felt farther away and… and just weird. Do you think we’re gonna stay like this, Griz?” she asked, noticing Griselda had gotten bigger too, arms and shoulders and legs and…

“I don’t know. We need to ask the doctors. I feel like what you said too, like I hit She-Ra’s growth spurt.”

“Yeah, and uh, holy shit, your fuckin horns, your hair...” Val said, then realizing something and sending a hand up to her own hair to feel, where before it had been a close-cropped regulation cut, now was down past her shoulders, almost midway down her back.

“What about them?” Griselda asked, gingerly touching her right horn the way she did when she was fidgety. “_Oh._” she said, eyebrows raising.

“Yeah,” Val agreed.

Griselda’s hand went to where it normally brushed the right tip, and felt solid horn there. She followed it back, dipping her chin to her chest, fingertip tracing the running edge as it curved around, and realized just how much they’d grown, a solid few hand-lengths. She looked down and saw how far her hair reached down to now, practically sitting on it. Thankfully her leg hair hadn’t grown as much, but still.

Val burst out laughing. “Oh man, I’m gonna need a trim,” she said, looking down and then cackling up at the ceiling like a wolf howling for the moon.

Griselda joined in; what else was there to do?

It took them a lot longer to catch their breaths this time, and then they talked some more, trying to recall everything they’d seen after they’d touched the runestone.

“I remember flying through space. Not like a video, like I was actually flying through space with nothing, just myself, naked in the vacuum, flying a million miles an hour, from star to star, through galaxies… through everything, everywhere.” Val muttered, brilliant eyes lost in the glow of the subterranean lake.

“You… that’s what that was?” Griselda asked, some things becoming clear, but still finding more questions than answers. “What’s that word, _galaxies?_” she asked, frowning.

Val brought her arms up to cover her chest as a cold draft brushed her skin, ankles crossed in front of her to keep warm.

“Galaxy, galaxies. It’s like, a giant group of stars and planets, so many of ‘em you can’t even count that high. And they swirl around in a big formation like that, and supposedly, there’s a black hole at the center of most galaxies.”

“So the… shining… swirls, with the big branches of light, those were galaxies?” Griselda asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, you saw those too?” Val asked.

“Yes. And I think I know of the black hole you said. It was like… the darkest- the darkest darkness I’d ever seen. It was like there was absolutely nothing there. I’ve never seen anything so...” Griselda trailed off, playing with the ridge of her horn.

“So big?”

“So utter.”

“Yeah, that’s a good way to describe it.” Val nodded.

Griselda looked at the woman next to her, a woman who she felt a war inside of herself over. She knew so much and so little, was so… different. So conflicting and contradictory, not so much unpredicable as just… surprising. And here she was, knowing secrets of the universe that even the runestone had not revealed in all of its revelation.

“What are they?” Griselda asked, wondering if Val had an answer, and if not her, then who would?

“They’re these… wells. Of gravity. You know gravity right?” Val asked, just checking to make sure they were on the same page.

“Yes. Keeps us here.” Griselda said, pointing down.

“They’re wells of it. Out there, past the sky, in space, they pull everything in. They’re so strong that not even the fastest stuff in the universe can escape if it gets too close. You know, light. It goes so fast, but even so. And once it gets past the point where it can’t escape, well you can’t see it anymore. So it’s just empty. And all of the stuff that gets pulled in, just keeps making it grow, I guess.”

“It eats.” Griselda said. “Like, greed manifest.”

“Greed manifest.” Val repeated, feeling the way it rolled off the tongue. “Sounds very… philosophical.” she said with a grin, a laugh in her voice.

Griselda laughed.

“How do you know about the black holes?” she asked.

“Astronomers studied them, taught the children about them in school.”

“So everyone knows about them where you’re from?”

“Yeah, I’d say so, almost everyone.”

Griselda sighed. “You remember the woman’s voice?”

“Yeah. I can’t remember what she said. Just what she made me feel…” Val trailed off.

“Like there was… a purpose. The only thing that mattered. Something really important, like a mission… or a calling.” Griselda said, like trying to find an answer, but not having what she needed to find it.

“Duty. Some sort of promise or… Destiny… I dunno how I feel about _that._ I know I’ve never really believed in destiny.” Val said, conflict etched across her face. “But sometimes things we don’t have any control over still affect us.” she said like she was admitting something, confessing a crime, or maybe swallowing a truth.

Griselda sighed, trying to let the wave of tension that had crashed into her wash away. “Well, if you remember anything else, let’s… let’s talk. I know I make it difficult sometimes… but I know, I know I need to.”

“Yeah. Both of us need to. I’ll tell you when, or if, I remember anything else from that.” Val said in agreement. “Let’s just try not to kill each other huh?” Val said with a laugh.

“Yeah, says the killer,” Griselda quipped, but… finding it harder to mean that now than before. She could hear it in her voice too, and some bit of her hated that. But she knew that that was… whatever. “We should probably get going huh? I bet the others are starting to get worried about us.” she said with another sigh, letting her shoulders go slack and finally feeling the wave go.

“Yeah. I wonder what they’re gonna think.” Val said, barely knowing what to think herself. “But hey, maybe we should keep the… dream stuff. That we saw together? Like, to ourselves. This,” she said, gesturing wide with her arms at both of them, “is already crazy enough. No need to make ourselves look like we got our minds fried or something.”

“Might be a good point.” Griselda nodded. “How do you feel about the swim back?” she asked, standing up, a glowing rain cascading down from her.

“Strong. Really strong, I think I’ll be fine.” Val said with certainty. She got up too, and smirked. “Race you back!” She yelled as she dove in, and Griselda grinned and dove in after her.

They practically flew through the water, swimming under the arch in no time, and rising so fast that they when they came up from the water in the dive spot they almost launched all the way out, and the doctors both screamed in surprise as they got soaked in a big splash.

It was only as they both climbed up onto the ledge with the doctors that it dawned on them how much they’d grown.

“First One’s sake, what happened to you guys!?” Doctor Ikarian exclaimed, staring up at the two women, their eyes glowing cerulean.

“My gods…” Doctor Heartsigil gasped, then turned, “Selinius, you didn’t say anything about- about _this!_” she said, waving her hands at Griselda and Val, who grinned nervously.

“Are you okay?” Doctor Ikarian asked, “I had no idea this could happen Niera, I swear,” they said, approaching Griselda open mouthed. Doctor Heartsigil, just shook her head, and started asking questions rapid fire as she circled around Val, looking up and down her and touching where her injuries had vanished under faintly scarred skin and dense muscle.

“How did this happen? Did it hurt? How are your eyes glowing? Wh-”

“Doctor-” Val interjected, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Well?” Doctor Heartsigil asked, coming back around in front and folding her arms expectantly.

“Look, we’ll tell you all about it on the way back, but long story short, when we swam down and touched the runestone together, everything went white, and then…” Val drifted off, catching Griselda’s eyes, and the question there: _“Are you about to tell them what we saw?”_

“And then we came up for air and we were like this.” Val finished, letting her hands fall back down to her sides. “Neither of us remember it happening.” she said, returning to the truth.

Griselda nodded. “It still surprises me just how much,” she said, gesturing up and down with her hand, “Before, Doctor Heartsigil was up to here on me,” hand level with her shoulder.

“Now she’s barely up to our tits,” Val said with a laugh as she turned around to put on her pants.

“…oh shit.” she said, laughter stopping short for a second as she stood next to her combat boots and held up her old fatigues to her belt line, and then bursting out laughing even harder.

“Oh First Ones.” Doctor Ikarian muttered with a chuckle, unable to help themself as they watched the hem of the pants barely reach past Val’s knees. Val dropped them and squeezed into her boxers which surprisingly still fit, but only barely.

Griselda surveyed her own clothing situation grimly. There’d be nothing left of her top if she tried to put it on, but her pants were baggy enough, designed to give her shaggy legs plenty of breathing room and mobility, and lots of pocket space for tools and such, that if she could shimmy into them just the right way… maybe…

Val watched as the stonemason triumphantly pulled them up, and then laughed as she immediately split the seat of her pants when she bent low to pick up her shirt.

“First One’s forsaken...” Griselda trailed off as she tried to get a glimpse of the damage. It wasn’t too bad but it might get a bit drafty.

“I’m almost out of bandages,” Doctor Ikarian said, handing the last of the dry gauze wrap from the bag they’d brought with them to Doctor Heartsigil. “This might have been enough for both of you before, but it looks like this will only fit one of you now.” Ikarian said matter of factly.

“Well, if it’s not too offensive, I’m fine going topless.” Val said bluntly.

“Shouldn’t be a problem.” Doctor Heartsigil said with a shrug, then adding with a teasing tone, “Not everyone’s as _conservative_ as Grizzy.”

“Just wrap me up already, Doc,” Griselda said with a sigh, holding her arms out and looking at all the very interesting nothing on the wall as Doctor Heartsigil expertly wound the make-shift top around her.

“Very stylish,” Val added as the doctor tucked the end in securely, to which Doctor Heartsigil gave a bow.

“Alright, I think we’re as ready as we’ll ever be,” Griselda said, and Val, nearest to the exit, turned around and led the way.

When they reached the amphitheater, Val turned and said, “Hold these,” to Griselda as she dumped her now-too-small pants and boots on the clothes Griselda was already carrying, and Griselda just muttered as Val turned around and ran up to where Doctor Ikarian had yelled “Hello!” before.

“Do you think they’ll hear it this time?” Doctor Heartsigil asked with a little grin, as Doctor Ikarian prepared to cover their ear holes. They hadn’t seemed to notice, but both women had grown unexpectedly loud when they’d come back, and Ikarian was wondering how sturdy some of the stalactites on the ceiling might or might not be, when Val roared, _”HELLOOOOOO!”_ at the top of her lungs.

Doctor Heartsigil winced and Doctor Ikarian was glad they’d already had their ears plugged, and as they all heard the resounding echo disappear into the chambers and caverns, a new noise could be heard.

Doctor Ikarian looked back up.

“Move, move, move!” They cried as a stalactite the size of Griselda’s arm came flying down from above, impaling itself amidst the group’s feet, and after a dazed moment of surprise, they all burst into action, sprinting up the trail as stalactites started falling from the ceiling like rain.

Val cursed as she slipped and slid back down to the trail, and watched as a stalactite as big as herself swayed above and then cracked loose. She dove forward and found her feet again, catching up to the group as they fought their way up the slippery slope winding through the amphitheater cavern. She heard a loud crack, louder than most of the other thuds and thunks of the smaller falling stalactites, and when she looked back, she saw that the one she’d seen just a second ago hit a stalagmite that had grown up from the ground into a large, top-heavy boulder that seemed to defy gravity… until now.

Val watched as the boulder-like growth atop the stalagmite cracked off, loud as a bull whip, and started rolling, picking up speed and bouncing down towards a dripstone pillar that reached all the way up to the cavern’s ceiling.

She almost tripped over Doctor Ikarian so she just opted to throw them over her shoulder and start running. Griselda, seeing this, hoisted Doctor Heartsigil up on her own shoulders and the two of them picked up speed, running and leaping up the slopes as the booming sound of something big cracking apart behind them urged them on.

All the while, calcite spears rained down around them, some no larger than a pinky, some of them as large as the women running, and Doctor Heartsigil chanced a look back from underneath her arms, shielding her head, and she screamed, “Faster!” when she saw the pillar cracking apart and collapsing toward another pillar.

Val hadn’t actually thought whether she could go faster or not, but instantly found strength flowing up from within like untapped crude oil blowing the top off an old rig, and her legs pumped faster and harder than the pistons in a twin turbo diesel. Griselda felt the same strength bursting up within her exactly when she needed it, launching through a gap between two dripstone pillars she hadn’t realized were collapsing ahead of her until it was too late to stop, and Doctor Ikarian’s eyes blew wide open as a massive calcite formation crashed down just behind them.

The two women and their charges made it into the tunnel out at the top of the cavern and kept sprinting, for minutes on end until they came to the series of falls they’d climbed down on their way in. They practically hopped up the falls, what normally would have been a scrambling clamber back up, now wasn’t much more of an obstacle than a short flight of stairs, and once they were past them, they kept running until the tunnel started narrowing a little bit.

When the tunnel started narrowing in width and height as they got closer, they were forced to let the Doctors down.

“Thank you for putting us down,” Doctor Heartsigil said, rubbing a sore spot where she’d bounced one too many times on Griselda’s shoulders.

“Thank you for carrying us out of there,” Doctor Ikarian said, chuckling, “But yes, thank you for putting us down.”

“I had no idea that that was gonna bring the whole cavern down around us,” Val said apologetically.  
“I had thought about it in passing, but honestly I didn’t expect it either,” Doctor Ikarian said with a huff of a sigh.

“I didn’t know I could run that fast,” Griselda said, looking down at her feet like they didn’t quite belong there or something.

“I don’t even feel winded,” Val said, noticing that her pulse felt only a tick higher than when she was at rest.

“Speaking of wind,” Doctor Heartsigil said, “I feel a strong draft coming from back there. If those caverns decide to come down now that the dripstones have collapsed, we may not have much time.”

“Good point, very good point.” Doctor Ikarian agreed, nodding and wagging a pointing finger in her direction to emphasize. “These tunnels could become unstable and dangerous too.”

“Then let’s get going.” Val said.

“Doctors should go first.” Griselda said, and Val nodded.

“Run as fast as you guys can, we’ll be right behind you.” Val said, as the two got in front of them and started picking up speed.

“We probably won’t be able to go as fast since its slick, but we’re going.” Doctor Heartsigil said, nearly slipping as she said so.

It took them a few minutes but gradually the tunnel started to grow lighter, barely noticeable, and they rounded a bend and nearly fell over themselves as Brekkan jumped in front of them.

“First ones above-”

“Holy She-Ra-”

“Fuckin’ Christ dude!”

The group stopped and as they asked what Brekkan was doing in the tunnel, they all realized how much stronger the draft was starting to get.

“Well, we heard various explosions, so I thought I should go find out and see what all the ruckus was,” Brekkan said, wide eyed as he tried to make sense of the two seven foot tall women behind the doctors, “What on Etheria hap-”

“We’ll explain later, we need to get out of here, _now!_” Val warned urgently, starting to push the group forward to get them to move. She looked back and felt wind upon her face.

“Come on, go, go, _go!_” Griselda said, and the group turned and started running again.

Minnius’s sharp ears picked up the stamping of feet and the sound of shouts coming from the tunnel and he stood up from where he’d begun preparing some dinner sandwiches.

“-ey! Hey!” “Minnius, Reylina, Otis! _Run!_” “_RUN!_”, came the mixed voices from out of the tunnel, growing louder by the second. Otis and Reylina looked up from their card game towards the tunnel as they started to hear the voices, and Otis yelled, “Whaaat?” over a grape, midchew.

Reylina’s eyes shot wide as her father and the doctors burst out of the tunnel with two giant shadows with glowing blue eyes practically stepping on their heels and she started screaming, scrambled up and started running.

“Wh-” Otis blurted, spitting grape everywhere as he stumbled up and over the log he was sitting on, then, noticing Minnius gawking at the scene, yelled "Come on!" as he grabbed him and ran for cover.

The entire group ran for a big boulder buried in an old rockslide next to the cliff face up ahead, Reylina cowering behind it and as she got there first, she turned to see Otis and Minnius get yanked up by a giant Val, as giant Griselda hauled both doctors _and_ her father up, somehow running even faster right for her hiding spot.

She stared in awe as they leapt clear over the rock slide and the boulder, landing behind it as an explosion rocked the entire ravine.

Rocks and dirt clumps and willow branches and a mist of water came raining down all around them, pelting the rock slide and the boulder they hid behind, debris landing in the river and ricocheting off the far walls of the ravine.

It was over as quickly as it started, and the canyon was left in silence. Val sidled up next to the crest of the rock slide to survey the damage, keeping an eye to the sky for any debris that hadn’t come down yet.

“Well, we should be fine.” She said, standing up to her full height, Griselda coming up just a half a head taller than her. “Anyone hurt?” She asked, looking down at the group, who were mostly all still in shock.

“No, I think we’re all good,” Doctor Heartsigil said, looking everyone over.

“Oh, no!” Minnius cried, hands flying to his head.

“What?!” the doctors cried in unison, looking for something they’d missed.

“Look! The campfire’s completely gone, the food’s ruined- and our packs, our bags!” He yelled, running out towards the smoldering remains of the campsite, arms waving and hands wringing at the destruction.

“Well, at least _he’s_ worried about the important things,” Otis said, then turning to the giants of the group. “By the way, what…?” He asked, trailing off as he gestured to Val and Griselda’s everything.

“That’s… a story.” Val said, lifting an eyebrow in Griselda’s direction, who just nodded. “We’ll tell you once we help him through his grief.” Val said, nodding at Minnius.

“Reasonable enough. I’m doing great by the way, concussion’s almost gone we think.” Otis said as everyone turned to go join Minnius at the smoking crater of the campfire. Past that was the collapsed ruins of the cave entrance, tunnels all but clogged and sealed with debris.

“Honestly, it’s a shame that happened.” Doctor Ikarian said glumly. They shook their head, scratching at their neck as they surveyed the ruins.

“Yeah. I’m sorry about that whole thing. I didn’t know that I could set off… a chain reaction like that.” Val said, rubbing her jaw uncomfortably.

“It’s not really your fault. I’m just glad you two got us out of there when you did.” Doctor Heartsigil said, coming up next to Doctor Ikarian.

“She’s right,” Doctor Ikarian said, as though putting a crucial puzzle piece together, “Remember the tremor we felt when the water glowed brighter? Just a minute or so before they came back?” Doctor Ikarian said more than asked as they turned to Doctor Heartsigil, hand rising to their chin thoughtfully.

“Oh, yeah… I wonder if that shook things loose? It almost knocked us down, we were just standing there talking about the cave system and wondering if we’d have to go in after you two when this rumbling shook the whole cave, and the water glowed brighter for a few seconds.” Doctor Heartsigil finished.

“You said it glowed brighter?” Val repeated thoughtfully. “That must have been when we touched the runestone and it glowed so bright we couldn’t see anything anymore. But I don’t remember the shockwave, though you'd think we would have noticed that.” she trailed off with shake of her head.

“Well. Maybe it was all your fault after all,” Doctor Ikarian laughed.

“Thanks.” Val grumbled.

“Careful there, you’ll start sounding like Griselda.” Doctor Heartsigil teased.

“I heard that!” Griselda bellowed from across the remains of the campsite, saying “Sorry” as she noticed everyone next to her go to cover their ears.

“Well, I guess we should help fix the campsite.” Val said, turning to the mess that Minnius was trying to clean up.

Most of the gear had scattered from the pressure wave of the cavern collapsing and all the air and debris exploding out the path of least resistance of the tunnel. It reminded Val of a back draft, or a bomb defusal gone wrong.

She bent down amidst the smoking remains of the campfire and started picking up a backpack by the carry handle and suddenly there was a rifle in one hand, Hannah’s plate carrier strap in the other as she dragged her into cover. She was back in Iran. Before the Second Landing of Inchon, Val’s first tour of duty in the Corps. She heard the rubble pinging the metal roof of the Humvee as the smoke and dust blew around her, the twenty year old truck so heavily loaded with armor plating it couldn’t even come close to its old top speed anymore. Not that it would ever drive again the way the engine block, or what was left of it, was engulfed in roiling flames. Val felt herself go to ground, trying to cover Hannah till Corpsman O’Conner could get to her.

“Corpsman!” Val yelled, answered by potshots landing all around her, and she bit the shit out of the inside of her cheek as something slammed her in the head like a hammer, the taste of heavy metal in her mouth, copper and mercury mixing, hot and cold, blood and thunder.

“_O’Conner!_” she groaned, as something else hit her in the space below her back plate, a lancing pain deep in her right hip. She wanted to scream as everything built to an unbearable roar, like the whole goddamn fucking world was coming down around her, as all the bullets slapped around her and gouged into her and all her team mates lie bleeding out in the burning steel death trap she was desperately trying to push Hannah under, and then there was Sergeant Kershaw rolling up on the fifty cal next to her, unloading lead death on whoever fired back.

“Val, you alright?!” Sarge yelled from the turret of the big MRAP, climbing over and dropping to the ground.

“My team-” Val gasped, “they’re in the Humvee-” she groaned in pain as she tried to get up, “they’re hurt bad-” she gasped for air, fighting to blink through stinging smoky tears, “Hannah- Hannah’s hurt- she’s hurt Sarge-” she choked out as she tried to drag Hannah toward the MRAP.

“I’m hurt-” she gasped, collapsing under the weight, and the strain, and the pain, under rotor wash and hell fire, and someone tugged her up, under the arms, yelling “Val! Val, get up! Val you’re alright, you’re okay! You’re here with us. You’re okay, it’s okay, we’re gonna be okay.”

Val looked up to see Sergeant Kershaw pulling her back, but it was weird, like the older man’s face was – _"Oh,"_ she thought as she realized it was Griselda. She was in Griselda’s arms. She was sitting down on the ground, in Etheria, Griselda straddling her from behind and holding her up.

“You’re here with me. It’s okay. You’re okay, Val. You’re safe.” She said calmly, rubbing Val’s shoulder.

“I’m good,” Val said, blinking as she scrambled to get up, “I’m good. I’m good, I’m okay.” she said, breathing hard. “What-” Val gulped, then tried again, “What the hell happened?” She asked, frowning as she paced back and forth. She bent down, putting her hands on her knees, trying to slow down her breathing.

“Trauma response,” Doctor Heartsigil said, cool and even, “Saw it a lot back in the old Alliance during the war; though it often manifests in other ways, intense moments where you relive things you went through happen sometimes. Do you remember what triggered it?” She asked, trying to get eye contact from Val.

“I… I don’t know. It happened when I was picking up that pack,” she let out, meeting Doctor Heartsigil’s gaze. She stood up, breathing deep, deep and slow, in and out, in and out. “Fuck.” she spat, hands on her hips as she sat back down hard next to Griselda, a little closer than she meant to, but she didn’t care. “Just… the smell of the smoke and, and the dust. Picking up that handle… sent me right back.”

“Well, you’re here now.” Griselda said, looking at her, not sure what else she could do but put her hand on Val’s to reassure her she was right her with her.

Val’s hand turned over underneath hers on her thigh, thumb idly rubbing inside the crook of Griselda’s thumb, letting minutes pass as she closed her eyes and just breathed.

Feeling her breathing come under control again, her heart slowing down to match, Val gave Griselda's hand a squeeze and opened her eyes.

“I’m here. I’m alright.” she said finally. “Come on, let’s get this camp shipshape.” she said, unintentionally brushing against Griselda’s shoulder as she stood up.

Griselda took it as a good sign and stood up too, not missing the fact that the first thing Val picked up was the same pack from before, setting it next to where the campfire had been. Minnius and Reylina set about gathering what food they could salvage, and Otis and Brekkan helped clear the area of debris. Griselda started picking up some rocks that had landed all over and started making a new fire ring, and the Doctors, seeing that Val was up again and everyone seemed to be okay for the wear and tear, went to work picking up limbs for a fire.

“Picking up limbs,” Doctor Heartsigil said with a huff of a laugh at her own dark humor, “better than it used to be.” she finished.

Doctor Ikarian nodded, saying, “Well, you’re not wrong, per se…”

“You know, I’m glad I got out of all that when I did. I used to beat myself up over leaving so early in the war. But I see what’s happened since, and really? It’s not as bad as it could have been.” Ikarian said quietly. “Whether I was there or not made no difference in the grand scheme of those things. But out here, the grand scheme is the people. Their families, the kids, even the farm animals and the wild ones of the Whispering Woods. I make a difference every day.”

“Well… You’re not wrong… I don’t blame you for getting out at all. I wonder what it would have been like too, sometimes.” Doctor Heartsigil said. “Having those years back.”

They stood there for a second, each just about loaded down with all they could handle.

“Well, you didn’t go back when the new Princess Alliance rose. What does that mean?” Doctor Ikarian asked.

“… I don’t know. And I don’t know what I feel about it now. C’mon, let’s get this fire going.” She said, nodding to the new and improved fire ring Griselda was just finishing building.

Griselda’s eye for stonework gave the fire ring a solidity and strength the old fire ring didn’t have, and it was likely that even without any dirt packed between the stones, the fire ring would last a very long time here, in case anyone came by in the future. She got up from her knees when she’d finished setting the last rock in place and dusted her hands off with satisfaction.

“Now _there’s_ a campfire,” Minnius said, appreciating Griselda’s handiwork as he and Reylina came back over with what was left of the food… which was still a surprisingly hearty amount, definitely enough to feed everyone…

_Well, maybe Grizzy and Val might not be full after dinner, but at least they won’t starve,_ he thought to himself.

“You packed a whole feast, huh?” Guardsman Otis said with a low whistle as they all gathered around and watched the meal come together.

Within a few minutes, someone had found a fire striker in one of the packs and the fire was burning hot, meat cooking on a flat rock laid over the top as a stove, as bread toasted and grapes and other wild berries were passed around by the bunches for the group to snack on while they waited for the main course to cook.

Minnius pulled out a cloth-wrapped jar of sauce, and doled out heaping servings onto each person’s sandwich.

When Val bit in, she felt a day’s tension melt away with the sizzling cheese and savory sauce.

“Damn this is good,” she said over a giant mouthful, and when she went for another bite, the sandwich was practically gone.

Everyone laughed as she not-quite faked a sad sniffle at how quickly it had gone, and everyone else chowed down on theirs which were proportionately speaking, _big ass_ sandwiches.

Griselda found herself faced with the same problem, even though she tried to take smaller bites, and couldn’t suppress the surprisingly loud, angry growl of her belly after she polished off the last bite, which garnered the howls of the whole group.

The sun set sunk behind the willow trees up on the cliffs as the group talked and laughed, and suddenly the glow from the river seemed to illuminate the whole canyon, the gentle burble of the cool water only accompanied by the rustling of a gentle breeze and the rising chorus of crickets. As the light died, Val noticed something blinking on the other side of the bank, just through the embers as the conversation around her ebbed and flowed. She focused her attention on it, not quite sure if it had just been an ember or if she had actually seen something blink.

And then she noticed it, all around them, the blinking of little golden lights, and a feeling of wonder from childhood bubbled up within her as she realized that they were _fireflies_. The tall grass was full of them, like little constellations burning brightly in and out of the darkening atmosphere all around them. The spring river gleamed, and the fireflies glowed, and the willow trees…

“_Woah..._” Val gasped under her breath, noticing how everything seemed to be coming to life around them, a little green luminescent moth flitting above her head as it made its way over to one of the willows, which were all beginning to put on a light show of their own, some of them slowly, gently pulsing azure like the river through vein-like lines up their roots and into their wispy leaves, others a cool, muted turquoise or a soft, flowery pink.

“Ohhhh…” Reylina gave a soft gasp, noticing the growing beauty all around them, and soon the entire group was caught in a silent rapture, enthralled by the luminescence of the forest.

Val noticed, sitting to her left, Griselda’s mouth hanging open in awe as she slowly looked around, eyes landing on Val’s. Val couldn’t tell if the glow coming off Griselda’s skin was a trick of her eyes in the firelight, or if…

“You’re glowing too…” Griselda whispered, looking down.

So she _was_, Val found when she looked down, a warm glow in the center of her chest that spread to an orange near her extremities, like a flashlight pressed to a fingertip. She saw her scars, a bright yellow, like hot metal just taken from a forge.

Now Val was sure the blacksmith was glowing, as a strong glow spread from the center of her chest, out into a magenta that burnt hot pink around her fingertips and her ears and across her cheeks.

“Griselda, you’re purple,” Val said, huffing out a laugh as she reached out and traced a line down Griselda’s upper arm from her shoulder, drawing the pink glow to the surface for a second before it faded back to the soft magenta glow and goosebumps washed over the stonemason, who snorted and said, “Yeah, I’m always purple…”

“You know what I mean.” Val said, tracing another line on Griselda, from just under her ear down her neck to her shoulder.

Griselda shivered at the touch, and suddenly she wanted to get away from the fire, to walk through the tall grasses and under the willows, to run, or, or…

“I need a walk.” Griselda said, feeling a heat rise up from her chest to her face, and looking down, sure enough, she could witness the light spreading, and she gulped, got up, and headed out for the bank near the river, her colorful silhouette joining the light of the river and the forest.

Val turned to look back at the fire, and only just then noticed all eyes on her.

“Cool, huh?” she asked, looking down and back up with a grin.

Doctor Ikarian put their head in their hands and Minnius stifled a laugh.

“What?” Val asked, grin turning to a frown. “What?” she asked again, voice raising in defense. “What did I do?” she asked, to no reply.

She crossed her arms in front of her as the group exchanged looks, knowing but pained grins on everyone’s faces.

Finally, Doctor Heartsigil rubbed her nose, made a very pointed nod to Val, and then slowly tilted her head in the direction Griselda went.

“…I…” Val said slowly, feeling like there was some message hidden underneath the obvious “Go follow Griselda.”

“Wait, did I do something wrong?” Val asked seriously, trying to think back to the moments leading up to Griselda walking off suddenly. “Oh, she doesn’t like to be touched and I- okay, got it; Go and say sorry.” Val said as she got up and walked away.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Doctor Heartsigil let out a quiet, gasping laugh, and said, “There is _no way_ she’s that clueless. No way!”


End file.
